304 for framlocks??

M

M Wadel

Joined
Sep 11, 2005
Messages
801
found a large piece of 304 stainless and before i cut it up in smaller pieces i would like to know if i can use it for a framelock? anyone tried it? any heattreat necessary with this steel? i know its probably not as good as 17-4 but its the only i got
 
300 series can't be heat treated so unless you have some that is cold rolled to harden it's going to be too soft.
 
could i possibly attach a harder piece of steel at the very end where it meets the blade? is it springy enough? i was thinking maybe one of those tungstencarbide pieces used for turning and milling, wouldnt know how to drill it though..
 
No, it cannot be drilled to the best of my knowledge unless you have access to EDM machines.
Tungsten carbide is very strong but also very brittle.
304 is soft and difficult to solder.
Sorry to sound negative but the best things in life are not always free.
Spend a few bucks and get the right stuff for the job.
Sometimes when you go to all the trouble to try to make something that is not really suited for the purpose (like adding carbide to the end) you end up very frustrated and disillusioned because a difficult job becomes so much more difficult and ends up as a horrible failure anyway.
Just my humble opinion.
Good luck.

Mike.
 
ok maybe ill just make some prototype until i can get hold of some 17-4, its kinda hard to find it here since the scapyards dont label their material, they just know its stainless. btw any heat treat necessary for 17-4 stainless (the one you can get from knifesupplystores i mean)?
 
Save yourself the trouble of searching through the scrap yards and finding heat treating info and buy some titanium. Just make sure it is 6AL4V.
 
striper28 said:
Save yourself the trouble of searching through the scrap yards and finding heat treating info and buy some titanium. Just make sure it is 6AL4V.
Click to expand...

hehe 6al4v.. i have a large piece of 3al2.5v.. got it for free too. i know its softer but ill try anyway, im waiting for it to be cut up in usable pieces
 
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