How to temper a piece of spring steel to hold a good edge.. anybody?

D

Denastilus

Joined
Apr 28, 2011
Messages
3
I found some old leaf springs in an old shed i was in about a week ago and started making some knives out of them, the first two turned out great, and got a good edge on them, only it got rolled real easily so i tried tempering them in motor oil. this made them so dull that the tips shattered as soon as i touched the file to them. any tempering suggestions?
 
For starters, if you got to the bladesmith form here there are lot's of Stickies that cover heat treating and other subjects. Here is the short answer. You really don't know the steel that you are working with so try this basic recipe. Heat the blade untill it becomes non-magnetic. Once it is there quickly dunk the hot blade into some warm oil. This is called hardening the steel. At this point try to cut the blade with a file. Is it hard? If yes, now you must temper the blade so it won't be brittle. To do this clean off all of the oil and pop it in the kitchen oven at +/- 400 degrees for 2 2 hour cycles. This should give you a decent blade if the steel is 5160 or any simple carbon steel.
 
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