Two questions: 1. Is iron stronger than silver? 2. is steel stronger than silver? Thanks!

Depends on what you mean by stronger. Iron and steel are both harder than silver, and as a general rule can bear more stress, weight, etc. They are both more brittle than silver. Silver is more malleable than iron or steel, meaning it can be hammered, stamped, pressed and stretched easier.

As Father Photius imples, all things are relative. Silver is soft and malleable as he states. Iron is less so. Steel is stronger than both. The tensile strength of steel is much greater than both. Also, steel is nothing more than iron with carbon added in varying amounts.

Unless you are dealing with a metal yard or supplier, it is unlikely that you will find much raw iron. Steel is generally what you will find. Once you get into steel there are infinite varieties, surface treatments and carbon contents. Basically you have mild steel (low carbon) and high carbon steel which is sometimes referred to as tool steel or spring steel.

What are you trying to do? We can probably help more with more detail.

I'll try to explain this the best I can, but when it comes to metalwork, I don't know the english names, so here we go: Let's just say that I'd be running a silver coin with lathe. So I was thinking that should the "spinning tool (don't know the name)" be iron or steel, to be able to make the coin a shell, rather than making the spinning tool bold. So I needed to know if either on of these material is stronger than silver. Thanks for your help!

I think I understand what you are saying. You are wanting to know what kind of lathe bit to use when making a silver coin shell?

I have used metal lathes, but admittedly have never made a coin shell. I have made fittings for swords and knives and a copper Okito box. I will freely admit that my metal lathe knowledge is somewhat limited. I know how to run them but not all there is to know about them.

I have never seen any bits for a lathe made out of anyting aside from carbide steel, which is a high carbon tool steel. This is what you would use for any metal lathe work.

Thank you! Exactly the answer I was looking for!

Hey Ray.... there are over 200,000 grades of steel and a few hundred grades of silver. Pure iron hasn't been manufactured since the early 1900's and is extremely rare to find. The best cutting tools are made of tungsten and/or tungsten carbide, an EXTREMELY hard material.

Silver is VERY soft, depending upon what state it is in. Annealed metals are referred to as "dead soft". 300 grade steel cannot be hardened. Carbon steels harden to a certain level, tool steels (grade A,O, and H) are the hardest and due to this are the most difficult to machine. Your wrenches and screwdrivers are NOT tool steel. Industrial punches and CNC cutting tools are tool steel. I can make you a custom cutter for shelling a coin, I just need to know the dimension of the cut and your lathe tooling.

So if I understood this correctly, both, Iron and Tungsten (carben) are stronger than silver. Tungsten is stronger than Iron. This may seem like a stupid question, but will tungsten darken up with use? how dark tungsten or iron are (color)? Will tungsten or iron rust if they are in contact with water?

Iron will rost withthe oxygen contained in water, tungsten will become kind of milky white
Consider titanium which will remain brittle is 4 times more solid than Iron weighing 4 times less. Naturally there is a downside to everything: it is more difficult to hammer, stamp, press and stretch.

I have 4 different etching solutions for coloring metal. When steel heats, you will see a rainbow of colors form on the surface. These colors are oxides that indicate the temper of the steel. Tempering is a heat treatment usually done under exact conditions. When YOU overheat steel and see those colors, you have ruined the temper.

Thanks!