I’ve done a few tests with tempering cycles and temperature settings with 5160. My test peices are forged from 1/4" to 1/8", annealed, ground down to rough shape, normalized three times, hardened, tempered then hand sharpened. I tempered six pieces two each at 375deg at 1.5hours, 1.5hoursX2and 1hourX3. I tempered six more at 400deg at the same time cycles as before. Two I tempered at 450 for 2 hours and one I did not temper at all for a starting point to test against. I tested all the edges by the brass rod method. The pieces tempered at 450 for 2 hours were too soft, the edge rolled. The one that wasn't tempered chipped as expected. All the other tempered pieces seemed to act the same except the ones at 375deg for 1.5hours, they did not chip but it seemed the edges did not flex hardly at all. I also put all pieces in a vise and bent them until they snapped. The ones that weren’t tempered snapped with ease as expected, all others snapped with what seemed like the same pressure including the ones at 450degs which was roughly three times the pressure as the ones that wasn't tempered. I know these aren't exactly the best way to test but i was trying not to rely on you guys so much but I thought I'd see more of a difference in the temper cycles than I saw. So it leads me to my questions:
What is the best temperature and time cycles to treat 5160?
Are they a temper color chart for 5160 on the web somewhere?
What color do you guys draw the spine to? And since it’s a deep hardening steel will drawing the spine with the edge in water work or will it soften the edge even if in the water?
Thanks guys for all the help you've given me in the past and thanks ahead on this subject.
Jason Byers
What is the best temperature and time cycles to treat 5160?
Are they a temper color chart for 5160 on the web somewhere?
What color do you guys draw the spine to? And since it’s a deep hardening steel will drawing the spine with the edge in water work or will it soften the edge even if in the water?
Thanks guys for all the help you've given me in the past and thanks ahead on this subject.
Jason Byers
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