Cold Rolled/Hot Rolled???

[Jantien van Vranckenvoert]

Isn't Hot Rolled softer....or am I misremembering?

[Uryen]

Yes. Hot rolled is softer. Cold rolled is essentially work hardened already in the cold rolling process.

[wcallen]

Yes. But.

Most of the cold rolled I ran across was 'cold rolled annealed', which reverses the comparison. I have seen annealed colld-rolled in mild and it is the normal state of the spring I buy. This means that it is significantly softer than raw hot rolled.

You have to know what you really have.

Wade

[knitebee]

biggest differance I've found between the two is only the coating on hot rolled. Differances between hardness have been unoticable. Price and amount of work to finish are all I notice. (note a soak in vinager is a great way to remove teh coating on hot rolled)

Brian

[Olivier L-Beaulieu]

It could be funny, but the hot rolled steel I used was much harder than the cold rolled to shape and to cut. I will never use hot rolled again for that reason.

The black oxide sometimes was very difficult to remove even with the grinder.

For me, it will be cold rolled steel for ever...

[Mad Matt]

Just as a note most of the time what you're told is cold rolled is actually hot rolled pickled and oiled. Basically they remove the scale and oil it so it won't rust before you buy it.

[Jantien van Vranckenvoert]

I got some scrap from a sheet metal place in Denver.....16 and 14 gauge, but this stuff has almost a "rainbow" sheen on the surface...... I'm not really sure what that means it is.