Gents, Just get yourself some 12L14 or 12L15 round stock and quit worrying about finish. These leaded steels are what the big boys play with and I have managed to locate some supplies here in West Tennessee. I make ramrods for Civil War muskets and keep a pretty good stock of leaded steel on hand from 1/4" to 3/4". Jesse in very nice Troy TN where we await the next tornado alarum. > Hi Alan, > > I can remember some years ago having the same sort of steel. It didn't > matter how or what I machined it with, it always came up with a rough > finish. > > It's funny how even today some bits of metal machine better than others. > I suppose that as we only ever deal with comparatively small pieces we don't > have the quality control that large companies have so we never know what we > have got. > > The worst bit of junk box steel that I had was used to make some buffer > heads. Machining every head wore out a changeable tip. > > Regards > > Clif > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "stepney"<alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > To:<modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2012 6:15 PM > Subject: [modeleng] Against the grain > > >> We all know that wood has a grain, and most of us will have read that >> metal does too. >> However, you can go for a long time without noticing it or it being a >> problem. >> >> I cant remember the last time that the grain in metal caused me any >> trouble, until today. >> >> I needed to do a simple turning job. >> What it ended up as was: >> a piece of steel, 1" at 1/4" dia, then 3/8" at 0.600 dia, and then 1/2" >> of 1/4" dia. >> >> In one of the "junk" boxes I have some 4" lengths of 3/4" steel (of >> unknown specification) with surface rust, so I decided to use one of them. >> Put in chuck and turned down about half the length to get back to a nice >> clean surface. >> Then reversed in chuck to do the same from the other end. >> >> The first end had a superb finish, and looked excellent. >> However, the other end looked as if it has been chewed away by a rat! >> Same tool, same setting, same feed and speed. >> I then tried several different feeds etc, but nothing I tried enabled e >> to get a decent finish on the "rough" end. >> >> Ahh well, enough playing about. Reversed in chuck, and turned the 1" and >> 3/8" lengths, so they ended up with a decent finish. >> Then reversed again and turned the 1/2" length (of 1/4" dia). >> Finish lousy, but it didnt matter for that particular section. >> >> Having made the part, I then tried another piece from the same batch, >> and found exactly the same effect. >> I assume that it is a heat treated steel, and must have a particularly >> coarse grain structure. >> >> Unusual, and consequently, interesting. >> >> Alan >> >> MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST. >> >> To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, >> modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject >> line. >> > MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST. > > To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, > modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject > line. MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST. To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.