Heat treating silver steel

Greenberg Woods

Greenberg Woods

Joined
Dec 27, 2013
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Hey guys, I have been planning on getting some silver steel, I know it is well regarded by a lot of wood workers and European smiths, but I was wondering what a HT for it. Its compositon looks to be in the middle of 52100 and O1, So would parks 50 and temper at ~420 work?

52100
Fe 96.5 - 97.32
Chromium, Cr 1.30 - 1.60
Carbon, C 0.980 - 1.10
Manganese, Mn 0.250 - 0.450
Silicon, Si 0.150 - 0.300

O1
C 0.85-1.00
Mn 1.00-1.40
Si 0.50
Cr 0.40-0.60
Ni 0.30
W 0.40-0.60

Silver Steel
C .95/1.25
Si .40 max. .22
Mn .45
P .014
S .018
Cr .45
 
Id be betting basically any oil will work. Its got both modest quantities of Chromium and Manganese, so I cant see it having hardening issues short of heat control issues. I say this after considering that 1084 does OK in canola and it has far less Cr (theoretically none...) and only a touch more Mn than the silver steel. Also since Cr is a better at retarding martensite formation than Mn to MY knowledge I would say just heat it up to spec temp and do some break tests!
 
Better check with the British guys. The composition leads men believe that it might not be quite as deep hardening as O1 or 52100. It appears to have a lot less manganese than 5160 or O1 and obviously less chromium than 52100. it looks a lot like 1095 with a touch of chromium. it has less lightly less chromium and manganese than 0170-06/51-100B/1095 CroVan and no vanadium.
Why not buy some W2 instead?
 
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Even cam be done in water but tricky, our silversteel has less chrome in it.
Silversteel is a name for a group of steels with a varyong composition.
 
Silver steel can be many things, I usually consider it around Hitachi Blue #2 in composition. I would HT it the same as Blue #2.
 
Silver steel does have quite a varying composition allowance, as W2 does. I see Silver steel more like an easier to HT White 2, or a 1095Cr as it has no wear resistance alloying to it to speak of (not enough Cr really to significantly affect wear resistance), which the Blue series has with their decent Tungsten counts. Probably best post quench HRC with fast oil (or brine if you're so inclined). 1475F aus temp (a little soak due to the small Cr content), P50 quench, 350F for slicers, 400F+ for heavier use knife. Pretty simple steel.
 
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