Heattreat 304 stainless

[Ansoknives]

I have some 304 stainless steel i use for pins and bolsters. I was thinking of making pivotpins out of a 6 mm rod. And use 3mm screws on both sides. Should i heattreat it for wearresistans. I was thinking of heating it to redhot(i dont know if i can use the magnet test on this) and cool it in oil. I dont think it should be necesary to aneal it. Does anybody have experience making pivotpins themselves.
I have bought materials in the state for building linerlocks, but i have a lot of problems because we have the metricsystem in Denmark. Thats why i would make them myself. Does anybody know of any who deals with pivotpins etc in metric

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Jens Ansø

 

[Darrel Ralph]

304 is a non heat treating steel.
It will work harden. Your best bet is to find another stainless like 440c. 304 is not a great steel for a pivot. Its a bit gummy and will cause gualing.

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Darrel Ralph / Bladesmith
Web www.infinet.com/~browzer
Take a look!!!!

 

[Walt Welch]

ansoknive; you could have hardly picked a worse steel to work with. This alloy is commonly called 18-8 in this country, referring to its' Cr and Ni content. It is used for flatware (knives, forks, spoons), and for finishing panels on appliances.

It has virtually no C in it: 0.08%. Not enough to allow carbide formation. It cannot be heat treated.

Go to this website to find out which stainless steel may prove more satisfactory for your intended use. http://www.metalogic.be/MatWeb/reading/material/m_ss.htm

Walt Welch

 

Question: is T304 stainless steel the same as 304 stainless steel? What does the "T" stand for?

Bernie

[This message has been edited by Bernie (edited 12 December 1998).]