Tool steel is what you make the tools from: punches, dies, shear blades, knives, forming tools and inserts. Each grade trades wear resistance against toughness, and getting that trade right decides whether a punch lasts a year or chips on day one. We source tool steel as flat ground stock, drill rod and bar, cut to size for machine shops and fab shops across Texas.
What shops use tool steel for
O1 is the easy one: oil hardening, forgiving to machine, good for short-run dies, gauges and knives. A2 is air hardening, so it moves less in heat treat, the common choice for blanking dies and punches. D2 has high chromium and carbon for top wear resistance on long-run dies and shear blades, but it's less tough and chips under impact. S7 is the shock grade for chisels, rivet sets and punches that get hammered. H13 keeps its hardness when hot, so it's used for die-casting and extrusion dies and hot-work tooling. M2 is high-speed steel for cutting tools.
Tool steel is bought annealed, machined soft, then hardened. The heat treat is where the grade earns its keep, so plan it with your heat treater before you order.
Common tool steel grades
| Grade | Key traits | Typical uses |
|---|---|---|
| O1 | Oil hardening, easy to machine, good edge | Short-run dies, gauges, knives, bushings |
| A2 | Air hardening, low distortion, balanced wear and toughness | Blanking dies, punches, forming tools |
| D2 | High carbon and chromium, excellent wear, lower toughness | Long-run dies, shear blades, slitter knives |
| S7 | Shock resisting, very tough | Chisels, punches, rivet sets, heavy-impact tools |
| H13 | Hot work, holds hardness at high temperature | Die-casting dies, extrusion tooling, forging inserts |
| M2 | High-speed steel, keeps a cutting edge when hot | Cutting tools, taps, form tools |
Forms available
Flat ground stock, sometimes called precision ground flat stock, is ground on all sides to close thickness and width tolerances and saves you hours of squaring. It's most common in O1, A2 and D2. Drill rod is ground round stock in short lengths, sized for pins, punches and shafts. Larger work starts from annealed round bar or saw-cut blocks from plate. Decarb-free stock has the soft surface skin removed, so you don't have to machine it off before heat treat.
Typical tool steel size ranges
| Form | Commonly available range |
|---|---|
| Flat ground stock | 1/64" to 3" thick, 1/4" to 12" wide; 18", 24" and 36" lengths |
| Drill rod | About 0.020" to 2" diameter; 36" lengths common |
| Round bar (annealed) | 1/4" to 12" diameter and larger |
| Flat bar and plate blocks | 1/4" to 6" thick and up, saw cut to size |
Commonly available ranges. Ask for anything outside them.
Cutting options for tool steel
Annealed bar and plate are saw cut into blocks and slugs with a little stock left for finishing. Shaped blanks for dies and punches are best on waterjet, because it puts no heat into the edge. Laser and plasma leave a hardened, stressed layer that can crack in heat treat, so we don't recommend them for tool steel you plan to harden. Order oversize by enough to clean up any decarb on the surface. See the cut-to-size options.
Certs for tool steel
A tool steel cert shows the heat, chemistry, annealed hardness and the spec, usually ASTM A681. Most shops don't need one for a single die, but you'll want it for production tooling, customer-owned tooling, or when a heat treat result doesn't match what the grade should do. We can get mill certs on request.