5160 H

B . Buxton

B . Buxton

Joined
Jul 8, 2001
Messages
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Does anyone know where I can buy the 5160 that has been tested for carbon % and free of trash.
I believe they call it 5160 H, but I'm not for sure.:confused:

Thanks
Bill
 
My unfailingly poor memory has already eliminated some facts here, but in Ed Fowler's book he talks of using John Deere shafts of some sort. Virtually certain they're made of 5160, and that Ed said it was always top quality steel. He suggested that mechanics don't like to throw away good steel, so there often are some stashed somewhere in a JD's shop somewhere. Ed suggests attending coffee breaks with a couple dozen donuts and they might well be free.

I lived in Central Missouri in the late 50s. In those days, virtually everyone was a Farmall fan, not many JD's around. Don't know if things have changed much. Who knows? Maybe Farmalls have 5160 shafts too?
 
I don't have Ed's book "Knife Talk" in front of me but I'd swear he was referring to the John Deere shafts as a source of 52100 not 5160. A source of good clean 5160 would be great, I have some of the 1/4"x1" 5160 stock from Admiral that everyone has been complaing about though I haven't got to the finishing point of any knives made from it. From what I've heard the only problems are cosmetic with this stock. I'd like to give the 5160H a try to compare also.

Guy Thomas
 
OK. guys hers's the scoup.

The shafts that Ed refers to in his book are Load/rock shafts from John Deere tractors as far as I know Deere is the only manufacture that uses them. Almost any tractor repair shop will have one or two around somewhere. I stopped by a John Deere deelers and picked up two hundred pounds worth cost me a box of doughnuts. Oh by the way they are 5160. I also think that new 5160 can be bought from crucible Steel in one inch round bars:)


Bondo
 
Guy, yes it is only cosmetic but it sure makes you work look like &*^&*, I ground out 4 blades that I had forged out yesterday, from admiral steels 1/4" x 1 1/4" HR 5160 and everyone is full of zits, looks like small cracks from 1/8" - 3/8" long, if you grind deep enough you can grind them out but then another will show up somewhere.
Thats why I would like to buy some clean stock.

Bondo, 1" stock is pretty big stock to be working with a hand held hammer, it would be great if I had a power hammer but I don't, I've worked some 1" and 1 1/8" tie rods before, and let me tell you that my 4 and 8 pound hammers get really heavy before you get done. It's good for building muscles through.:D

Old leaf springs work good and are clean, if you can find some that aren't cracked, I've used several of them in the past, but there a pain to cut to working size with a skilsaw and metal blade, hopefully
someone will know where I can buy some clean 5160 1/4"x1 1/4" stock.

Thanks guys,
Bill
 
I have Ed Fowlers book and am sure he said "John Deere rock shafts" and they are "5160." Admiral Steel sells both 5160 and 52100 I believe, in round stock for us forgers.
 
If a couple of yous guys id lik ta try some 5160 from load shafts then Id forge some down inta bars ya could use and send itto ya. Only ask that ya send me postage.

P.S. not til after Blade West
 
Yup, you guys are right. It was my faulty memory!:D The John Deere shafts are 5160. Admiral does carry 52100 in 3/4" rod, (at a decent price too) but I certainly prefer 5160, in my limited experience it forges MUCH easier.

Guy Thomas
 
I use old leaf springs. The way to go about it is to have a local shop with a plasma-arc cutter cut them into strips for you. The steel does not seem to be harmed by this at all from my experience, and it is a very cheap source of great steel. To make sure the stresses are taken out of it, I take it up just barely into weld range and just pound it a bit. This tends to just fuse those little breaks along the surface, and then subsequent forging and normalizing makes it a great blade steel.
 
For 5160 forging stock I go to a spring manufacturing shop (Standens) and they cut 2 X .28 stock into 1 foot lenghts then cut it again lenghtwise to give me .28 X 1 inch bars. Works great.
 
I have been getting 5168 spring steel from Stanley Spring Co. in Harrisburg, PA. Their phone number is 717-257-5050. I have forged lots of knives out of this steel and never have had any problem with inclusions in the steel. I used this steel to pass my Journeymans test in the ABS, and made my five ABS display knives out of 5168. A informaion sheet that came with the beginning Blade Smithing class in Washington AK back in 1990 listed Stanley Spring Co. as a source, and recomended 5168 steel. Tom Lewis
 
I got some rss, raw spring steel, from the Tulsa Spring Co. and it means just that. It's liable to be anything from 1060 to 5160 at their place. I know I got some 1084 because it was marked, but I guess they don't care what they make springs from as long as it's "spring steel.":rolleyes:
I looked in their supply bins but didn't see any 5160, guess all spring shops aren't the same.
 
WOW Dan, when I first seen this, this morning, I throught I was 4 years younger. Then I woke up, damn. :confused:

Bill
 
B . Buxton said:
WOW Dan, when I first seen this, this morning, I throught I was 4 years younger. Then I woke up, damn. :confused:

Bill
Click to expand...
:D as long as you feel younger Bill that's good :)
it's old but still found on yahoo so I wanted to add to it for future ref:
if it was found again. this has been floating around for years still :)
no wonder there's so much info on Yahoo. :)
 
" H " steels are melted to meet hardenability limits . Standard 5160 - .56/.64 C, .75/1.00 Mn ,.70/.90 Cr. 5160 H - .55/.65 C, .65/1.10 Mn, .60/1.00 Cr. H steels are more likely to be cleaner.
 
I wanted the same thing. I found a local auto spring manufacturer who got their springs from a wholesaler called triangle steel, or triangle spring (cant remember which). :rolleyes: I called triangle spring, and they told me that they used 5160H. I would contact some spring manufacturers in your area. I got all the unused springs I will probably ever need for 20 bucks. (in general I would go for unused springs instead of used ones. Used ones could have microscopic cracks in them that will fail at the most inopportune time)
 
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