Heat treatment info for 1566

P

Paul Dal

Joined
Mar 11, 2019
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10
Good morning all,

I recently traded for a huge amount of steel, enough for me to use for the rest of my life. I sent a sample of it off for OES testing and the result came back as 1566, though it also has a little Si in it, but just barely not enough to classify as 65mn. Primary numbers are: C 0.69, Si 0.159, Mn 0.89, P 0.036, S 0.025 and Cr 0.061.

I make mostly knives, but will eventually expand into swords. I have been doing most of my recent work with 1084, 80CRV2, and 15N20. I use a propane forge without a PID, so I judge temperatures by color working in the half-dark. Currently I'm using Parks AAA as my quenchant.

I can't find good heat treat info online, specifically "temper at 400 to 700 deg F"

Can anyone offer up a better heat treat regimen?

Thanks in advance!
 
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Your steel is 1070. 1566 is similar but has a bit more manganese. The OES results are kind of on the border between the two but doesn’t matter too much. Heat treating 1070 is essentially the same as 1075, 1080, or 1084, which you will likely find more information about when searching.
 
Thank you everyone, I'm looking forward to working with it.

On an interesting side note, this stuff spent about 40 years in a pile outside (in Tennessee), some of it half buried. It has a few spots of actual flaking-off rust, but most of it just has a light rust on the surface. The spots where I had to cut it to get it out of the construction site rusted right away to the same amount. I wonder if that's from the silicon or manganese? There's not enough chromium to make any difference for anything. I figure the potassium and sulphur are just contaminants. There is a whole laundry list of other elements in trace amounts.
 
I would say the best way to go about this is to team up with a knife making buddy that has a kiln and Rockwell tester so you can run a bunch of coupons and dial in a heat treatment.
 
Paul Dal said:
Thank you everyone, I'm looking forward to working with it.

On an interesting side note, this stuff spent about 40 years in a pile outside (in Tennessee), some of it half buried. It has a few spots of actual flaking-off rust, but most of it just has a light rust on the surface. The spots where I had to cut it to get it out of the construction site rusted right away to the same amount. I wonder if that's from the silicon or manganese? There's not enough chromium to make any difference for anything. I figure the potassium and sulphur are just contaminants. There is a whole laundry list of other elements in trace amounts.
Click to expand...
If it had the right surface finish (black oxide) when it was laid down, that could limit more red oxides forming a bit, especially if it had a bit of oil on it...
Just speculation.
 
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