trlvn
Ultra Member
Over the past few years, I've purchased lathe tool bits in several different auction lots. A few of them were marked "Deloro Stellite".
Stellite is one of the "Cast Alloy" products that was all set to supersede high speed steel around the WWI era. Basically, you can run cast alloy lathe tool bits at roughly twice the speed of HSS which was, of course, hugely appealing to industry when HSS was the limiting factor in production. But then (and I'm not exactly clear on the timing), carbide tooling came along and cast alloy became a footnote in history. HSS is magnetic but cast alloys are not so that can be a clue as to which is what.
You can read an nice introduction to cast alloy tooling at the following:
But back to Deloro. In an auction lot I picked up this week, there was another piece of Deloro Stellite and this one was prominently marked "Made in Canada"! Turns out that Deloro is the name of a mining town in Ontario that was established in 1868. By about 1912, "Deloro Smelting and Refining Company" had been formed to produce this exotic new metal using cobalt from the mining operation. More about the company history can be found at the following links:
www.marmorahistory.ca
www.deloro.com
My auction lot included one more surprise--the box that the tool bits were shipped in!
Detail of the box:
My collection of Deloro Stellite:
Anyway, I thought this was a neat bit of Canadian history--even if Deloro failed to dominate the world market for machine tool bits! AIUI, stellite is still used in certain applications where its resistance to heat and wear is important.
Craig
PS If you want to grind cast alloy tools, check the conradhoffman site for safety warnings about the cobalt content. Also that you shouldn't quench during grinding as it wrecks the structure of the metal.
Stellite is one of the "Cast Alloy" products that was all set to supersede high speed steel around the WWI era. Basically, you can run cast alloy lathe tool bits at roughly twice the speed of HSS which was, of course, hugely appealing to industry when HSS was the limiting factor in production. But then (and I'm not exactly clear on the timing), carbide tooling came along and cast alloy became a footnote in history. HSS is magnetic but cast alloys are not so that can be a clue as to which is what.
You can read an nice introduction to cast alloy tooling at the following:
But back to Deloro. In an auction lot I picked up this week, there was another piece of Deloro Stellite and this one was prominently marked "Made in Canada"! Turns out that Deloro is the name of a mining town in Ontario that was established in 1868. By about 1912, "Deloro Smelting and Refining Company" had been formed to produce this exotic new metal using cobalt from the mining operation. More about the company history can be found at the following links:
Deloro Company Photo gallery — MarmoraHistory.ca
www.marmorahistory.ca
Follow Deloro from a discovery to a wear solutions expert
www.deloro.com
My auction lot included one more surprise--the box that the tool bits were shipped in!
Detail of the box:
My collection of Deloro Stellite:
Anyway, I thought this was a neat bit of Canadian history--even if Deloro failed to dominate the world market for machine tool bits! AIUI, stellite is still used in certain applications where its resistance to heat and wear is important.
Craig
PS If you want to grind cast alloy tools, check the conradhoffman site for safety warnings about the cobalt content. Also that you shouldn't quench during grinding as it wrecks the structure of the metal.
