Semi-finished steel article

Claim 1

An as-deformed billet of free machining steel, said billet comprising: a composition consisting essentially of, in wt.%: ______________________________________ carbon 0.06-1.0 manganese 0.30-1.6 sulfur up to 0.35 bismuth 0.10-0.40 tellurium machinability increasing amounts up to 0.06 lead up to 0.15 silicon up to 0.30 phosphorus up to 0.12 iron essentially the balance; ______________________________________ the combined lead plus bismuth content being at least 0.25 wt.%; all of said tellurium being combined substantially with said bismuth and/or said manganese as microinclusions of Bi 2 Te 3 and/or MnTe; there being substantially no FeTe; microinclusions of elemental bismuth; a billet surface substantially free of surface cracking and burning in the as-deformed condition; and iron oxide on the surface of said billet in said as-deformed condition; said billet having microinclusions of PbTe in amounts insufficient to produce substantial surface cracking during hot deforming of said billet at a temperature below 1150° C. (2100° F.).