A-36 Mild Steel

wmhammond

wmhammond

Well-Known Member
Any reason A-36 mild steel should not be used for guards, fittings, etc. I have a source and will use it unless there is a reason I shouldn't. Thanks,

Wallace
 
Not that I know of. It would be essentially the same as using 1010 for knife furniture or maybe even a piece of rebar.

Doug
 
The short answer is yes, A36 can be used.

The long answer is that because it's so inconsistent (contains such a varied array of materials), it can be very inconsistent to work... soft/hard spots/areas, sometime it appears "splotchy" when satin/polished finished, and can be a real pain to hot/cold blue (again, because of the wide array of alloys it can contain). It's just one of those materials that you can count on to be inconsistent in just about every aspect of working it.
 
If it is in fact A36 there should not be any inconsistent properties. A36 gets a bad rap because people loosely use the term A36 for all hot rolled material. A36 is held to strict quality controls just like all other high grade materials. It is a structural grade steel that is used in bridges, building's, and any other structural application. Hot rolled material can vary widely depending on where it comes from. A1018, A1011 are the common ones and are general a strip mill product and made in 3/16" or less but can be purchased in thicker pieces at times.

If you really want a consistent finished product find some a572 grade 50(grade 50 can be dual certified to meet A36 standards), or a quality 1018 cold rolled.
 
Dennis in 1" you should be fine using that plate for what ever you want.
You guys don't know me from Adam when it comes to the knife making world, I'm just a hobbyist that wants to make nice knives. In the real world I'm a Warehouse Manager of a medium sized new steel service center. So I pulled some numbers together to hopefully shed some light on my experience with hot rolled material.

Last year we moved tons of material, 78% of that was a36 or a572 grade 50. 47% of those tons were processed on our equipment. We have 2 400 amp cnc plasma cutters, a set of plate rolls that can roll 1/2" plate, a 1/2" plate shear, a cnc press brake that will form 1/2" thick a36, 2 cnc band saws, and a rebar processing line. In 13 years of working with a36 not once have I seen a bolt, spring, or had a compliant about a36 material being a lesser quality steel. Generic hot roll material is a whole other animal in itself, and not generally made in thicker stock.
 
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Hey guys, thanks for all the input. I plan to make fittings for a big Bowin and I want to blue them to black afrer they are ground and polished. Will A-36 take the blue in a consistant manner? Thanks again

Wallace
 
Ty Adams said:
Dennis in 1" you should be fine using that plate for what ever you want.
You guys don't know me from Adam when it comes to the knife making world, I'm just a hobbyist that wants to make nice knives. In the real world I'm a Warehouse Manager of a medium sized new steel service center. So I pulled some numbers together to hopefully shed some light on my experience with hot rolled material.

Last year we moved 48,000 tons of material, 78% of that was a36 or a572 grade 50. 47% of those tons were processed on our equipment. We have 2 400 amp cnc plasma cutters, a set of plate rolls that can roll 1/2" plate, a 1/2" plate shear, a cnc press brake that will form 1/2" thick a36, 2 cnc band saws, and a rebar processing line. In 13 years of working with a36 not once have I seen a bolt, spring, or had a compliant about a36 material being a lesser quality steel. Generic hot roll material is a whole other animal in itself, and not generally made in thicker stock.
Click to expand...

Ty: NUCOR makes it right here in Norfolk, NE. Lots of my buddies work there. Small world.
 
Dennis Morland said:
Ty: NUCOR makes it right here in Norfolk, NE. Lots of my buddies work there. Small world.
Click to expand...
Small world indeed. We get most of our bar stock from their mill in Plymouth Utah. They really have led the way in small arch furnace mills. Most people don't realize that some where around 80% of the steel manufactured in the US comes from recycled materials. The company I work for has the best of both worlds..... We deal in scrap and new steel, it's a win, win in our industry.
 
Here in North Carolina we have Nucor headquarters in Charlotte and a large carbon steel mill in Hertford County near the coast. The mill is on the Chowan River so large amounts of scrap can be brought in by barge.
 
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