Heat Treatment, Selection, and Application of Tool Steels [Paperback]

Bill Bryson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1569902380 | ISBN-13: 978-1569902387 | Publication Date: August 1997

In a few short years, this has become the established reference for tool makers, heat treaters, and engineers seeking step-by-step recipes for properly heat treating a wide range of tool steels, plus practical information about machinability, shock resistance, wear, and extending tool life. Now, the completely revised and expanded second edition of this best-selling title is available. It has been extensively updated and includes the following significant additions: an entirely new chapter on the popular powdered tool steel CPM 10V; a thorough section on carburizing thoroughly describes the process and its benefits; a section on cryogenic treatment which has been completely rewritten to describe the theory and process; and a comprehensive glossary of related terms. As in the first edition, valuable tables of properties, attributes, qualities and shortcomings of popular tool steels are also included.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 198 pages
• Publisher: Hanser Gardner Pubns (August 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569902380
• ISBN-13: 978-1569902387
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,438,983 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the book you need to start heat treating. (Ignore the childish reviews.), April 21, 2007

By 

Eclectic Tinkerer (Bedford, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heat Treatment, Selection, and Application of Tool Steels 2E (Hardcover)

Anyone who enjoys metalworking and is searching for introductory information on heat treating will find this book is a thing of beauty. To quote the preface, "This is not a book about metallurgy, but a book that describes in simple terms what happens to metal during heat treatment!" Right from the start ("Chapter 1. What is Steel" and "Chapter 2. Exactly What is Heat Treatment Doing?") the author explains step-by-step how to treat the major classes and most common alloys of tool steel. If you want to know the how and why of hardening, tempering and annealing at a level that will allow you to really do it yourself, look no further.

The book decodes the naming conventions, explains the differences between air, water and oil steels, offers insight into the effects of various alloys and provides full recipes for hardening, quenching and tempering the most used steels. He goes on to discuss the effects of subsequent operations such as grinding, welding and EDM. The back is filled with tables with data for all the steels you're ever likely to use.

I had tried a few project prior to finding this book with mixed results, mostly because it's impossible to tell "straw" from "pale amber" with going through an old-fashioned apprenticeship. This book offers exact instructions, temperatures, soak schedules and tips that produce excellent results.

On finding the link to recommend this book to a friend, I was shocked to find that it had such a low reader rating (3/5 stars). Of the six other reviews here, three are the arrogant sarcasm of people who have so much free time that they read about other people's vacations. Regarding the fourth, if you are as well versed in 16th century texts on metallurgy as in the "cutting edge" of technology, then this book is not for you either.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Introduction to Heat Treating for the Hobbyist, November 5, 2007

By 

David Utidjian "Almost is for horseshoes and ... (Wayne, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heat Treatment, Selection, and Application of Tool Steels 2E (Hardcover)

I bought this book about a year ago in order to understand the heat treating process of common tool steels. It is a well written set of "recipes" for the hobby and home shop machinist. It is not a canonical text on metallurgy.
So far I have used it to heat treat several projects that I used A2 (air hardening) tool steel in. I found the directions easy to follow and got the desired results without any mistakes.
As always, one should follow the manufacturers recommendations for a particular steel. The manufacturer specifies the "what". This book specifies the "how" (and some of the "why".)
I highly recommend this book.
-David Utidjian-

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A waste of time for metallurgical information, January 10, 2001

By 

Nick (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heat Treatment, Selection, and Application of Tool Steels (Paperback)

I am always surprized at the lack of information about the metal heat treating field. This book is definitely included in this. Although many of the processing techniques are good, some make me cringe and want to run for cover. The metallurgical information is remaniscent of Biringuccio or Agricola, both written in the 1500's. If you have enough metallurgical knowledge to know what is correct and what processing techniques are good, then you don't need this book. If you don't have enough knowledge to decipher this, then it is unreliable. On a lighter note, the other sections, not dealing with heat treating, seem good.