Heat treating L6

[JTknives]

Now that I'm forging L6 i thought i would see if any one had any specs on heat treating it. any tips or numbers would be great. also type of oil to use. i have vet grade mineral oil i use for 5160 that works great. thanks

 

[Rusty McDonald]

If it helps it is kinda like O1 but not realy because of the vandium

Where did you get yours, I've been looking for some more, if you dont mind that is.

Forge above 1800, Oil quench, pretty sure its a deep hardening steel
Temper between 300 and 500 to get Rc Hhardness from 63 to 55

I usualy go with 375 for 1 hour 2 times

 

[JTknives]

i get mine from a surplus store about 30min away and i pay 0.30 a pound. i have around 150 pounds so far. i have one 6" round that is 6" long and then i have a 2.25" round that is like 8 feet long. so i'm stocked up. i do have a local supplier that has it for around 4 bucks a pound but its in rounds from like 1" up to like 10" in diameter.

 

[Mike Krall]

Now that I'm forging L6 i thought i would see if any one had any specs on heat treating it. any tips or numbers would be great. also type of oil to use. i have vet grade mineral oil i use for 5160 that works great. thanks

http://www.crucibleservice.com/eselector/general/generaltitle.html

Click on the tools steels tab... 2nd in top row... then L6 - Champalloy. Most round L6 is made by Crucible. Flat L6 is mostly Carpenter Technology. It's the Carpenter L6 (called RDS or R.D.S.) that contains vanadium. Tim Zowada uses Carpenter L6. Kevin Cashen uses Crucible L6. I've always wanted to hear the two of them state the differences along with the pro's/con's of those choices.

L6 is relatively high hardenibility... not like A2 but not like W1/W2 either. If your quench oil substitute works for 5160, it will work for L6.

Mike