Carbon Steel > Plate > 1095

This is a high carbon alloy of the plain carbon steel family. It is intended for high hardness and strength, but also tends to be brittle. Machinability is relatively poor for 1095 alloy. It rates at 45% that of 1112 steel which is used as a 100% machinable reference. Forming may be accomplished by conventional methods. However 1095 is more difficult to form and requires greater force to do so than for the lower carbon steels. 1095 may be welded by all of the welding methods. It is important to pre-heat at 500 to 600 F and post-heat the weldment at 1200 to 1450 F. The steel may be hardened by heating to 1650 F and quenching in oil. This should be followed by a tempering heat treatment. For cutting tools it is common practice to harden only the cutting edge by induction heating and quenching so as to retain the toughness of the steel behind the hardened edge. Typically used for springs or cutting tools requiring sharp cutting edges such as grass or grain cutting tools.