# question about cutting tool steel



## barry richardson (Oct 3, 2013)

Thought I would try and pick some brains here... They were throwing these knives out at work an I nabbed them. They are blades for shears that cut metal for signs that were mostly aluminum and brass. I assume they are some kind of tool steel, but no markings, and the manufacturers website doesn't mention the type of steel. I'm wanting to cut a few into small pieces for cutters for my turning tools, and possibly other things. Would an angle grinder with a metal cutting disc do it without effecting the temper? That is about all the metal cutting equipment I have... they are 14-15 inches long and the big one is 2.5 wide and 3/8 thick. Might make a beastly drawknife out of that one.
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## jimmyjames (Oct 3, 2013)

Most likely its d2 which more than likely between 58-62 Rc, theres 2 ways of cutting it, either with a chop saw(will get the part hot and effect the heat treat) and the other is using a carbide end mill in a mill and mill it into 2 pieces, don't try to cut it with any band saw or anything like that


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## barry richardson (Oct 4, 2013)

Thanks Jimmy, I don't have either of those setups. I have cut small pieces of M2 with a diamond wheel on a dremmel and it worked great, but my understanding is that M2 is less effected by heat. I don't have any heat treatment gear either. I'm thinking I will try and cut them with the diamond wheel at the points where the holes are, and grind from there...


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## jimmyjames (Oct 4, 2013)

That would work, any heat treated steel will be affected by heat to a certain extent, I doubt your dremel will produce enough heat to make a difference. Yesterday at work I ran into this same thing, we have interns in our show that don't know squat and a guy from the fan department brought a piece of press brake tooling where the end of the die was blown and wanted it cut off so the kid put it in our band saw and tried to cut it, its Wilson press tooling that's through hardened to 65+ Rc and the case hardening is far past 70 Rc, I think its the hardest press tooling on the planet, the crystalline structure in the metal is something I've never seen before, we ended up having to cut it with our wire edm machine


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## barry richardson (Oct 4, 2013)

Probably ruined the bandsaw blade too


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## jimmyjames (Oct 4, 2013)

barry richardson said:


> Probably ruined the bandsaw blade too




Oh yeah no saving that one, our bandsaw is outside our air conditioned shop and it probably ran for an hour before somebody stopped it, the teeth were dull, all it did was scratch the surface....


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## robert flynt (Oct 4, 2013)

Barry if you don't mind making a mess you keep water flowing on them while cutting. As long as you don't get it past the straw color it should be ok. Just cut it slow.


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## HomeBody (Oct 6, 2013)

I'd use a dremel with the thin aluminum oxide cutting wheels. Those little wheels will cut about any metal easily. Diamond wheels clog so bad when cutting steel, they do much better on carbide. Take your time and you won't effect the temper.


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## robert flynt (Oct 9, 2013)

Barry, I wonder if those blades are cobalt? If it is don't breath the fumes when you cut it.


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