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High speed steel scrap, the tool steel that gets its own bucket
We buy high speed steel scrap: the worn drills, taps, tool bits and end mills that pile up beside the carbide in a machine shop. Keep it in its own bucket, send us photos, and we quote it as a lot of its own.
HSS is a steel with tungsten and molybdenum in it
High-speed steel, or HSS, is a tool steel. ITIA, the tungsten industry association, says high-speed steels are often simply called tungsten steels and use most of the tungsten that goes into steelmaking, with tungsten anywhere from 1.5 to 20 percent. Tungsten and molybdenum together, about 10 percent in total, give the most hardness and toughness.
| Grade | Tungsten | Molybdenum | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | 18.0% | none | the original HSS, same composition as in 1910 |
| M2 | 6.0% | 5.0% | the grade that replaced T1 |
| M42 | 1.4% | 9.2% | a cobalt grade, used for bimetal saw teeth |
ITIA's 2008 figures call M2, M7 and M42 the most popular grades in Western countries and Japan, and say the US and Japanese markets lean on low-tungsten, high-molybdenum types such as M1 and M7. Only about 2 percent of the HSS used in the USA was the tungsten-only T1 type.
Hardened and tempered, HSS reaches HRC 63 to 68 and keeps most of that hardness up to about 550 °C, regaining it as it cools (ITIA). A University of Pennsylvania lecture puts cobalt grades such as M35 and M42 at 68 to 70 HRC, with improved hot hardness and less toughness.
Sources: ITIA, Tungsten in Steel (2008, file 2024); ITIA, Tungsten in Steel (2008, file 2025); University of Pennsylvania IPD 501, Speeds and Feeds lecture.
Every drill drawer has some
ITIA says about 95 percent of HSS becomes machining tools: drills, taps, milling cutters, gear cutters, saw blades and knives. It names M42 as the tooth steel of bimetal saw blades.
An HSS tool is one piece, so when its edge wears the whole tool has to be resharpened and finally replaced, which a King Saud University machining lecture calls a time-consuming and inefficient process. Each replaced drill, tap or cutter becomes scrap.
Toolmakers make HSS scrap too. A 2021 paper hosted by ITIA shows HSS scrap, blanks and turnings collected by the toolmaker as new scrap and sent to an HSS smelter for recycling.
Sources: ITIA, Tungsten in Steel (2008, file 2025); King Saud University, cutting tool materials lecture; Zeiler et al. 2021, Tungsten recycling (ITIA-hosted).
Weight is why HSS and carbide are sorted apart
The two take different routes. The 2021 paper above shows toolmakers' HSS scrap headed for an HSS smelter. It also warns that a worn drill head that is mostly steel by weight can land in a steel scrap tray and end up in structural steel, where its tungsten and cobalt are diluted and lost.
Weight is the simplest way to sort the two at the bench. Carbide, a University of Pennsylvania machining lecture notes, is generally 1.5 to 2 times as dense as steel. In numbers, common steels are about 7.8 g/cm3 in an MIT course table, while tungsten carbide with a cobalt binder runs from about 13.1 (a part with about 19 percent cobalt, in an ORNL study) to 15.2 (a K01 grade in NTP's table). HSS is a tool steel, so that rule of thumb is the one to use: pick up an HSS drill and a carbide drill of the same size and the carbide one is usually plainly heavier.
One honest exception. NTP's table lists the P grades, made for machining steel, at 8.5 to 13.4 g/cm3 (representative values), so a light tool is not proof of steel. When a tool feels wrong either way, set it aside and photograph it.
Brazed tools need a look too. A carbide tip brazed to a steel shank belongs with brazed carbide, while a solid HSS tool stays in the HSS bucket. Our guide to identifying carbide covers the other checks.
Sources: Zeiler et al. 2021, Tungsten recycling (ITIA-hosted); University of Pennsylvania IPD 501, Speeds and Feeds lecture; MIT 3.11 metals property table (1999); ORNL manuscript on OSTI (2019); NTP RoC background document on hard metals (2010).
The HSS we take
- Twist drills, straight and taper shank, cobalt drills included
- Taps of any thread size
- Tool bits and lathe blanks
- HSS end mills and milling cutters
- Reamers, countersinks and gear cutters
- Bimetal saw blades with HSS teeth
- Clean, dry HSS turnings, bagged by themselves
Drain the coolant, shake out the chips, and keep HSS out of the plain-steel bin as well as the carbide one.
If the same drawer holds solid carbide drills and end mills, those go in a separate bag and on our carbide end mills and drills page. Carbide in any form is the core of what we buy.
High speed steel scrap price: one quote per lot
We quote HSS as its own lot and publish no HSS scrap price, since grades carry very different amounts of tungsten and molybdenum, as the table above shows, and some carry cobalt.
To get that quote, fill in the quote form with exotic metals selected, a rough weight or bucket count and a photo of the pile, or email the photos.
From anywhere in the US, ship it to us and we pay for the shipping. In California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada we can come to your shop instead, in any city. Cash is paid where state law allows it; the state rules guide explains the limits.
Common questions
Does an HSS scrap price follow the carbide price?
We do not tie one to the other. HSS is a steel carrying some tungsten, molybdenum and sometimes cobalt, while carbide is mostly tungsten carbide, so each lot gets its own quote.
My drawer mixes HSS and carbide tools. Do I have to sort it?
Sorting helps, and weight does most of it: most carbide tools feel much heavier. If some pieces still puzzle you, put them in a third bag marked unsure and send a photo with your quote request.
What are M2, M42 and T1?
They are high-speed steel grade names. T1 is the original grade, with tungsten and no molybdenum, M2 carries both tungsten and molybdenum, and M42 is a cobalt grade. If a grade is stamped or printed on your tools, mention it in the quote form.
Do you pick up high speed steel scrap, or only carbide?
We buy both and collect both, in any city in California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada. From other states, send the HSS to us and the shipping is paid by us.
More for sellers
End mills, drills and reamers
Solid carbide end mills, drills, reamers and burs
Learn more
Saw tips and brazed tools
Carbide-tipped saw blades, saw tips and brazed tools
Learn more
How to identify carbide
Telling carbide from steel and HSS in a toolbox
Learn more
Molybdenum
Molybdenum and TZM solids, sheet and wire
Learn more
Cobalt alloys
Cobalt alloys, Stellite and cobalt-bearing scrap
Learn moreReady to sell your carbide?
Send a few photos and a rough weight. From any state, you ship it and we cover the shipping; in California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada, we drive out to you.