HSS handleless tool blanks

[mpax356]

You can buy HSS blanks all day long from Amazon.

The cheap Chinese ones give you no indication of metallurgy beyond that except most claim to be hardened to ~Rc60

Probably a cheap grade of M2 is my guess.  By cheap I mean: expect mediocre composition and heat-treating.  Still good for casual use tho.

-Mark

I have made a lot of scrapers from HSS blanks from Amazon all sold as M2. I do  a hands on workshop at my club every couple of years where we make a beading and parting tool from the HSS blanks. Never had a problem with the M2 steel heat treatment. My thought is that the primary use for most of these blanks is as parting tools on a metal lathe. If it is good enough for that it must be ok. The only problem I have had is buying lots of 10 bars and Amazon uses poor packaging by sticking them  in  a padded envelope. Half the time I am missing one or 2 bars by the time it arrives as the sharp edges cut through the minimum packaging.  These are the 8x8x200mm. Then the choice is sending it back for a refund and trying again or accepting the loss of a couple of bars as part of the cost! It happens so often that I usually take the loss. 

[Stwood_]

Grizzly used to carry some cheap, oddball size jointer blades. I haven't been on their website for ages so don't know if they still sell them.
There are always piles of blanks for molding machines at their yearly tents sales.

[MstrCarpenter]

I don't do much turning but I have the box of lathe tools from grampa. I'd guess they're close to one hundred years old. All the custom ones are made from old files. There are some to make rosettes too; one tool cuts the 4 closely spaced beads, then another to shape the hemisphere in the center.