Drill Rod Where to buy it ?

[buckbrush]

Most fastener places will sell W-1. Acklands has it, Century sales, KBC ...
sTOCKER W-1 and O-1 are high carbon tool steels, both heat treatable with a torch. Drill bits are usually made from H.S.S. which requires a much higher heat treating temperature.

W-1 is ideally quenched in a water- salt brine mixture. O-1 is ideally quenched in oil, preferably heated. Use canola oil if using a heated quench especially, it has a much higher flash temperature than engine oil.

 

[jbunny]

jbunny: Those stores really aren't in my neck of the woods. I have the books and the tools. Why would you assume otherwise?

that was meant for dingus which i thought was on the lower BC mainland. i think i;ll go into lurk mode.

 

[Dave L.]

I happen to stock a tiny bit of precision ground steel drillrod ranging from 1/16 to 1" at my shop. If you'd like you can contact us and we'll ship it out to you, but the larger drillrod sizes leave a big hurt in the pocketbook.

- Dave.

 

[dingus]

that was meant for dingus which i thought was on the lower BC mainland. i think i;ll go into lurk mode.

Im in B.C thanks for all the info from all!

I ordered from KBC today got 3 length of Drill rod (Oil hardned) diffrent sizes for a few bucks more than the one length size locally.

The Girl that took my order was kinda Ditzy in a funny way kept giggling not very profesional.
hope i dont end up receiveing a $5000 Lathe to pick up

 

[Pepperpopper]

I get it at metal supermarket type stores, the stuff I buy is O1, and comes in 36" lengths, though if I were actually looking for it for drills I might try some HSS. Don't forget that in certain instances the cheapest source is drills.

You can harden cold rolled, look up "super quench", but it is mostly good for medium hardness tools like hammers etc...

"Drill bits are usually made from H.S.S. which requires a much higher heat treating temperature"

That shouldn't be a problem, it looses hardness at much higher heat, inducing hardness is not all that different from carbon steel. Some HSS are reasonably easy to home temper, and others aren't. Since it is very difficult to draw the temper from, if you get a piece of it that has been hardened, like a lathe tool bit, or drill, you can often just grind the piece from it since overheating during grinding won't draw the temper (leave you with a soft piece).

 

[Pepperpopper]

"acetalene and oxegen torch is the only gas that u can heat up a file to bend it and reharden a file without
burning the sharp cutting edges of the file."

That sounds unlikely most blacksmiths, and knifemakers use propane. Not sure exactly what you are trying to do, but propane should do it.

A person may have to experiment with their stock a little to come up with the proper quench. Brine is very rapid, and not normally recomended near anything that specifies an oil, like O1. However, the size of the piece also maters. Some bacon drippings, mineral oil, or olive oil all work well with O1.