Is good blade steel harder to move?

[leachknives]

Ok, so i have been thinking the past couple of weeks about hot steel and how it moves under hammer blows. Considering the fact that I don't have a power hammer, pnuematic hammer, English hammer, M.C. Hammer, or any kind of forging press, I am limited to my good ole fashioned cross peen hammer. And with such, I have heated and beated my way through about a dozen knives or so. Some good enough to sell, some get melted just before forging is complete (whoops), and some were made just as test runs. About half of these knives were railroad spike knives intended for displaying on a shelf, or as a conversaton piece. I have also made a couple of damascus billets, and was able to forge one of them into ablade that ended up failing due to a bad weld. The other billet I started on was an old drive chain from my '82 sporty. I've also made a couple out of 5160, and done a little bit of blacksmithing with some mild steel.
One thing I have noticed is that the good knife steel like 5160 is quite a bit harder to work than mild steel. I even notice a difference in the workability of hot 5160 vs hot RR spike (1040-50ish I think). Is it normal or common to be able to feel the difference when your hammer strikes different types of hot steel? IDK. Maybe I'm losing my mind, but good steel just seems to not want to move very well when forging.

 

[Raymond Richard]

Yes, some steels are stiffer than others under the hammer. Back when I did hand forging demo's I would always try to have 1084 mainly because it moves so much easier than other steels. I have always found 5160 to be pretty stiff and W-2 feels even stiffer. Surprisingly L-6 is one of the easier steels to move by hand. Its not just your imagination. Just heat the steel up more and that helps a great deal.

 

[parbajtor]

If you're looking for a steel that hardly moves under the hammer, then EN45 has to be up there. A difficult one to work and also to get a good HT on, but for swords and axes and big choppers, it's a great steel once you get the HT right. Incredibly tough, good (not great) edge holding and springy even at knife hardness. EN45 is similar to 9260.
10xx series and W1, probably move the easiest of all the blade steels.

 

[DEllis]

I find 5160 to be fairly easy to forge.............the L-6 I have tried(from Aldo) was significantly less friendly.
Darcy

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

The term is red short.

Steels with higher alloy content, especially chromium, will be harder to move under the hammer. Some have to be forged in a very tight heat range. Too hot and they mush apart, too cool ( in a red hot sort of cool) and the steel can potentially crack, as well as be hard to move.