hardened throwing knife?

C

catcalls

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My uncles friend is wanting me to build him a set of throwing knives(3), and I was wondering if I should harden them, or if I should leave them in an anealed state. I would be afraid of them breaking if they were hardened, however if they were anealled, wouldn't the edge become destroyed? What have you guys done? Or what would you do if you were me
Thanks
Jack
 
Harden and temper to Rc 49-53 range. Martensite is better than pearlite for any knife.
 
That depends on the particular steel you are using. If you are choosing the steel, 4140 tempered between 500 to 600F 1-2 hours twice should work well. -Doug
 
For L-6, increase the tempering temperature to 600-700F. L-6 requires a soak of 10-30 minutes before quenching. Are you using a furnace or a forge to heat it?

Since your steel allow is not known for certain, you might want to experiment. Make a couple simple blades (flat bar with one end sharpened to a point). Try tempering at different temperature (400, 500, 600 and 700F), and test by dropping the "blade" point down on to concrete. Examine the point for damage and select the temperature which delivers the best performance (least deformation without chipping). Good luck with the project. -Doug
 
L-6 isn't the steel I would pick for a throwing knife.

I would want a medium carbon steel, preferably one with a chromium bearing alloy. 5160 would be very good.
4140 would also be good.
For a simple and inexpensive steel, 1060 would be just fine.

A look at a tempering chart for the steel used will give you the approximate temperature for a target hardness. This is close enough for most all situations.
Testing the steel after tempering is the only way to get an exact hardness. You may need to raise the temper to lower the hardness if too high. If too low, you will have to re-do the HT. Those with Rc testers deliberately undershoot the temper and sneak up on the target 10° at a time.

In my youth, I made dozens of throwers from plain old hardware store 1X1/4" bar stock. This has about .30 carbon, and with a brine quench and 450° temper makes a cheap and usable thrower. HF/Lowe's/etc all carry this type of steel at a very low price. This is the only knife related use of such a steel, but for a thrower, it will work.
 
big fan of throwing knives here. My favourite knives were made by Harald Moeller from 440c. My second favourite are made by Rosarms, and are made of a steel with similar elemental composition. They are probably in the high 40s to low 50s for hardness.
I like stainless for throwers. Often wondered how D2 would work out.
 
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