uxcell HSS Lathe Tool Bit 6mm x 6mm x 200mm, Square Lathe Turning Tool Blanks, High Speed Steel Rectangular Fly Cutter Mill Blank, 5pcs

Works great on my grizzly mini lathe. Super hard steel

Makes a great shaft for a birdcage awl.

Bought some HSS bars to use for strikers for a ferro rod firestarter for emergencies, they work great, very happy with the product, only wish i could get the bars in 3MM X 10MM X 100MM length with a small hole drilled in the one end of bars for a lanyard

I purchased these to make scraper for firesteel. Right out of the package not all 4 sides are equally sharp. A couple sides worked really well and through great Sparks, the other sides would only make small Sparks. I haven't tried yet but I believe a few strokes on my diamond knife sharpener and all the sides should work great. I feel it's a good value for what you get. I will be cutting them in half to make 10 strikers

Received my HSS steel in good order . These will be made into a variety of small engraving and wood carving tools. Thank you.Steve Kelton

The 90 degree edges are quite sharp. For sparking off ferro rod works amazing. Not sure if careless will even cut my skin. The edge can be quickly taken off with belt sander.This HSS: amazing, can light paper and wood shavings due to tiny globs of ferro.It obviously removes more ferro rod with each strike, but with fewer strikes needed I think it will still allow a lot of starts. Compared to other tools I've tried...A file: very good, more easily start good tinder like jute, cotton ball, dry grass, fibre from dry bark.A knife spine made 90 degrees by filing or grinding: good, for good tinder, but doesn't seem to last.Won't ignite wood chips or paper, will ignite cotton balls, very dry grass, and fibres from dry bark.Hack saw blade: decent, takes strength but can light good tinder but takes several strikes.It doesn't take much to spark cotton or jute or very dry grass, but with this HSS takes less muscles and ignites less optimal tinder.

Easier to grind this smaller size, then put it in a holder, just like you'd do a carbide insert but HSS instead with your custom shape. Can braze to mild steel to put in a big aloris type holder on the lathe.Grinding half inch or larger HSS is for people willing to wait for their not yet conceived child to graduate from college. Ain't nobody got time for that.

These are great for making your own marking knife for woodworking. I epoxied some spare cutoff pieces from other projects and shaped it on the belt sander. I used the grinder to grind the bevels on each side so that I can mark from either direction for my joinery