> Aaron & others:
>
> I found the article more of an intro than a 'comparison'. The only
> thing I came away with was that as a general rule you get what you pay
> for. I for one, would have liked to see more detail concerning why the
> SJB faired so badly. It sounds like the iron wasnt  heat treated
> properly . I was also intrigued by the use of A2 tool steel in the
> Holtey and perhaps Ron Hock can pitch in and educate us as to its
> pro's/con's.

   I'm not Ron but the differance is the alloy formula and "cleanness"
or purity
of the alloy. It is an atmospheric quenching material as opposed to oil
quenching
of O1. It cost more and wears a little better than O1 in tooling
applications but
 is not as application sensitive as the more specialized tool steels
such as S-7 and
the like. A-2 is a more general tool steel much like O-1 in use. We use
it because the
heat-treating facility we use is air harding alloys only and it does
wear slightly
better due to its finer grain structure. It does however still contain
the high edge
capability of high carbon steels as opposed to the tougher but harder to
sharpen "high speed
alloys".

    Mike Yazel    Hoosier Tool