# Deloro Stellite



## trlvn (Jan 27, 2022)

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:





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						Cast Alloy Lathe Tools
					

overview of new and vintage cast alloy lathe tools



					www.conradhoffman.com
				




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:





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						Deloro  Company Photo gallery — MarmoraHistory.ca
					






					www.marmorahistory.ca
				








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						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.


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## Chicken lights (Jan 27, 2022)

trlvn said:


> 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’re making my memory work hard here but I believe chainsaw bar tips had a stellite outer edge on the more expensive ones. Possibly the replacement tips as you’d expect more wear on those. 
It possibly was the bar rails too, I know they are a laminate build, soft cheap steel for the body but the wear surfaces were different for longevity


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## RobinHood (Jan 27, 2022)

That is a good story @trlvn. Good to see you got really good quality tool blanks.

You know that Stellite is not dead yet in Canada? It can still be bought.

Check this out…




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						Home
					






					www.stellite.com


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## trlvn (Jan 27, 2022)

RobinHood said:


> That is a good story @trlvn. Good to see you got really good quality tool blanks.
> 
> You know that Stellite is not dead yet in Canada? It can still be bought.
> 
> ...


Cool!  I had read that Kennametal bought the North American business but I hadn't found that page.

Thanks.

Craig


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## RobinHood (Jan 27, 2022)

Any time.


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## whydontu (Jan 27, 2022)

fun fact - 99.999% of every valve in the world used on steam service over 15 PSI has Stellite 6 sealing surfaces. Harder than the hobs of Hell, maintains physical properties at +900*F, resists wire draw.  I’d love to compare one to carbide. I’d bet that nicely sharpened Stellite would be a zillion times better than carbide inserts in the mostly low-horsepower gear we hobbyists tend to have.


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## deleted_user (Jan 27, 2022)

trlvn said:


> 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.
> 
> ...


very cool...museum pieces


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## johnnielsen (Jan 29, 2022)

Stellite embedded in a silver brazing rod was used to build up the huge reamers (9" OD by 80" long) for sizing oil well bores in the 1970s.


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