5160 help

C

Callum.D

Joined
Jul 17, 2015
Messages
58
I got some 5160 round stock and forged it into a knife, all was well until the heat treat; no matter what I do the file just doesn't skate like I'm used to on W2 or 01. I have tried the HT four time with all to the same degree of failure.

each time I normalise three times then quench into warm canola oil. After the first few failures I did some research and saw that some people recommend quenching it a little hotter than what i am normally used to, at about 830 Celsius as opposed to 800, I tried this to no avail.

What on earth am I doing wrong? It seems no matter what I do the the bloody thing the file always will bite in a little under moderate pressure.
 
Maelstrom78 said:
The file might be biting into the layer of decarb. File a bit on the edge and then try again?
Click to expand...

I ground off the scale and a bit of the steel, the file is still biting a little. I took an off cut of the same bit of steel and quenched it in the same way, it shattered when I hit it with a hammer so I am left still clueless.
 
Can you explain what exactly you're doing when you say normalize 3 times.

Shattering a test coupon doesn't tell you much, did you file it?

When I'm checking hardness with a file, I file the edge back, completely perpendicular to the edge. That way I'm filing the smallest surface on the blade, I'm removing any decarb from the edge, and I find very quickly whether it's hard in the area i want to know with absolute certainty.
 
Last edited:
kuraki said:
Can you explain what exactly you're doing when you say normalize 3 times.

Shattering a test coupon doesn't tell you much, did you file it?
Click to expand...

heated to just above critical, maybe 820-830, held it at temp for a minute then air cooled. I am somewhat limited in my temp control using a forge and tempil sticks but the test did skate a file.
 
Did you do the same normalizing with the test? How much volume of canola?
 
Yes, it was treated identically. I am using around 3 liters of canola in a vertical tube which I heat from the bottom with a torch.
 
Ah, its is just an unusually thick layer of decarb, probably because it went in and out of the forge so often. I ground a little more of and got a hard spot.
 
5160 NEEDS to soak at temp (1500°). I soak mine for 10-15min at temp then quench in parks AAA heated to 120°. Gets glass hard after you deal with the decarb. If your not soaking attemp your not getting all the aloy into solution and will have a sub par blade. Just because something gets hard does not mean it's a good heat treat.
 
I think you have hardened steel under a whack of decarb. Grind more off and you'll hit gold, sir. Between forging, normalizing and repeatedly quenching, you have done a number on the surface.
 
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