How to get rid of leaf spring memory?

[AenglonOtt]

I have some leaf springs taken off of a 97 ford that came from a local scrap yard, they are quite large. However, after heating about half of one of the springs and straightening out into a piece of flat stock (to make a few knives out of later), it seems the steel is wanting to bend back into its original curved shape. How do I get rid of this effect? Are there any books or in depth articles on the net about making knives and swords specifically out of leaf springs? Reason for asking is because leaf springs are readily available in my area and are a far cheaper option than ordering flat stock 5160 online.

 

[JTknives]

leaf springs are readily available in my area and are a far cheaper option than ordering flat stock 5160 online.

Where are you located becaus I would mostly disagree with this statement. Baring living in a country where it’s not available and shipping is crazy pricy I don’t think springs are cheaper. I’m not just talking about money cost I’m talking about over all cost. An exzample is what your facing right now. How much time and energy are you going to spend dealing with the springs. This includes all the time you spend researching how to deal with the springs as well. Where with 5160 bar stock it’s done ready to go once it hits your door. My time is quite valuable and I don’t have time to deal with mistery steel and the headaches it brings. So I’m passing this advise on to you. A small bar of known steel will put you much further ahead with time and money that it will infact be cheaper then something you salvaged. You also have to deal with the absurd thickness of these springs where bought steel comes in any thickness you want. Time is money, seconds equals minutes and minutes equal money.

But back to my origanial question, where are you located?

 

[AenglonOtt]

Yeah thats true, didnt really take that into consideration honestly about time. I live in north florida and there are scrap yards on almost any road in my area. I got the leaf springs for $35 per, so $70 for the whole set. Im still pretty new to bladesmithing. Where do you get your steel from?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Check out places like New Jersey Steel Baron. You can get a whole lot of 5160 flat bars for $70.

 

[DevinT]

When they roll the arch in the spring, it stretches to out side of the steel. After annealing the steel it’s best to over bend the steel in the other direction and then straighten.

Hoss