At what point will a alloyed high carbon steel become "unforgable"

K

koduu

Joined
Feb 26, 2018
Messages
51
Hello,

So here is my problem. I want to find a hand forgable steel that would maximize edge retention. The problem is that in the metal data sheets forging is usually not specified. So is there some arbritary cutoff for Chromium, Molybdenum,, Mangan, Wolfram or cobalt (or carbon) at of which I should not consider hand forging it? Should I just check if the steel is Air-hardening?

Also do you know to suggest an European analog for Blue paper steels (1.1-1.5% C; 1-2% W)
(a lot of analogs by those specs seem to have somewhere from 2-4% of chromium or Mangan in them aswell)
 
Last edited:
The characteristics of a steel that is easy to forge covers a lot of areas, including: difficult to move under the hammer, likely to crack when forged at low temperatures, and then high hardenability for difficulty in heat treating and annealing without a PID-controlled furnace. Yes that last one is not actually forging but seems to be the most talked about aspect. Which one are you most worried about?

1.2519 steel might be what you are looking for: https://www.bestar-steel.com/wp-content/uploads/BE2519.pdf
 
Thank you for the suggestion, i will try to see if i find a seller.

About what i would hope to see in a forge-able steel - something that would fulfill the following criteria.

1) It should move under the hammer at a temperature window that is not so high and narrow that I would likely miss/move out of it it by striking the hammer against a 2-3 mm (<1/8 inch) thick piece once or twice
2) it should not easily crack even when striking it at a lower temperature
3) could be annealed in ash/vermiculite

For example steels that I have difficulty finding, but what seem really interesting are russian "diamond steel" http://www.zknives.com/knives/steels/almaznaya_stal.shtml or the AISI F2 http://www.zknives.com/knives/steels/AISI/f2.shtml
 
Scmiedeglut was out of it a week ago at least, will check the other sources tho
 
If you talk to Achim Wirtz, ask him if he has any of his 1.2442/115W8 left. That may be the best of those German tungsten steels for knives.
 
Larrin said:
Achim Wirtz also sells some tungsten-alloyed steel, his contact info is on this page: http://www.lohmann-stahl.de/1/contact/
Click to expand...
jdm61 said:
If you talk to Achim Wirtz, ask him if he has any of his 1.2442/115W8 left. That may be the best of those German tungsten steels for knives.
Click to expand...

Definitely can recommend for euro buyers. Got some really cool steel from him.

1.2419.05 (130WCrV5)
1.3 % C
1.0 % Cr
0.3 % Mo
0.2 % V
1.3 % W

and 1.2513 (135WCrV4)
C 1.35%
Cr 0.35%
V 0.15%
W 0.9%
Si 0.30
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top