Hi Guys,
Another good site for metal information is;
http://www.actonbrightsteel.co.uk/Take a look at the technical guide, I like their listing because they still list "proper" numbers (EN) which are so much easier to remember than apparently random new numbers. They also list common uses for the particular steel. I find that the majority of real or proper engineers still use the EN numbering system, perhaps they cant remember the new system either.
For those who might be interested, the "EN" stands for
Emergency
Number. The system was introduced during WW2 to force all the various steel makers in Great Britain into making steels to a common formula and grade, for strategic and supply reasons.
Most of us on this forum are only interested in a few different steels, plain ordinary mild steel EN1 in either bright or black or as I believe our US cousins call them CRS or HRS. We also need something that is hardenable something like EN8, a "40" carbon steel, which can be hardened much like "silver steel/drill rod" but much cheaper. There is of course Silver steel, but I think quite a few people use it because it is an easily available ground-to-size steel rather than its ability to be hardened, save for tool makers of course.
Sometimes we may want something a little more exotic like EN16 a manganese/molybdenum, EN19 a chrome/moly or EN24 a nickel/chrome/moly steel for that special critical component, but they are usually more for when friends say can you make a new Girder fork spindle for my pre-war racing motorbike than for a Stuart steam engine.
It might be of interest to quote from a book "the motor cyclist's workshop" where it states "The notes that follow are compiled from the information given by a motor cycle designer of world fame. The subject is simpler than might be expected. Except for the valves, he would happily use only three steels in a standard (not racing) motor cycle- a good quality mild steel, a carbon steel and a commercial nickel-alloy." The book does go on to list the type of steels used for various components but I am not going to type the whole chapter!!
Very few of us, if any, use our metals to their extreme limits, it is not like we are making full scale F1 engines where every single gram weight is important. As Bogs says, when we want to make something we go to our stock room (scrap pile)and pick up something of the right size that has the properties we want. Mild steel for strength, Brass for corrosion (?) resistance, Bronze for corrosion resistance and bearing properties, Aluminium for lightness and ease of machining, and Stainless steel for strength, corrosion resistance, the ability to be polished to save the need for plating and ease of machining. Let us not forget cast iron, much favoured for, unsurprisingly, castings and bearing surfaces.
If you notice a slight pro Stainless bias, you are right. I hate things that I have spent ages making only for them to go rusty in a few hours in our "multi-purpose" UK climate.
Ned