L6 bainite heat treat thread

[DaNoog!]

Hey everyone. Noog here.

Never worked with l6 bainite b4 but I've stumbled on it online.

Anyone here ever worked with it? How does one heat treat it?

Was going to call around to buy some but I thought it wise to check in

 

[DevinT]

L6 is a low alloy steel, bainite is a condition of heat treatment called aus tempering. Many steels can be aus tempered.

Aus tempering is done by heating the steel to the correct austenitizing temperature and quenching in heated oil, salt or lead to just above the martensite start temperature and held there for several hours until bainite forms.

Mar-quenching is similar but forms only partial bainite and martensite.

Hoss

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

Howard Clark is the master of L6 Bainite. Most info about it comes from him, either directly or indirectly. L6 Bainite isn't something you can easily purchase. Forging it would destroy the bainite structure, so it would be stock removal only. If you're dead set on it, contact Howard and see if he would sell a bar.

 

[DaNoog!]

oh Im not so deadset on it. I'm just loking for toughness and wear resistance. Let's open up the thread a bit. What steels are there that people like for their toughness and wear resistance?
only know oil quenching or water. I am not set up for air/plate quenching. I'd love to tool up and learn how to do it, but i'm just not there yet.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Welcome Noog.

There are many high alloy steels that will have high toughness. However, if your only HT methods are a forge and oil or water quench, you can't HT them. These steels can be sent out to professional HTers and the HT regime slanted towards higher toughness in the tempering.

I suggest you get a copy of Larrin's book "Knife Engineering". It covers the subject very well and has great comparison charts. It has the HT regime for almost every possible knife steel.

If you are looking for a simple forge HTable steel that with high tough, try CruForgeV, 5160, O-1, or 52100

 

[shqxk]

There is a small knife company in Thailand who specialize in L6 bainite, they quench the steel in salt bath above Ms temp for a couple hours to gain bainite structure then gas torch edge with control equipment to get the martensite edge so they have the superior toughness(?) of bainite and edge holding of tempered martensite.

 

[DaNoog!]

Welcome Noog.

There are many high alloy steels that will have high toughness. However, if your only HT methods are a forge and oil or water quench, you can't HT them. These steels can be sent out to professional HTers and the HT regime slanted towards higher toughness in the tempering.

I suggest you get a copy of Larrin's book "Knife Engineering". It covers the subject very well and has great comparison charts. It has the HT regime for almost every possible knife steel.

If you are looking for a simple forge HTable steel that with high tough, try CruForgeV, 5160, O-1, or 52100

Hi stacy, i thought of farmingout the heat treat obviously, but theres another thread out there saying that the wait times are horrendous and there are enough people who seem wholly dissatisfied on that thread with "the best" that it gave me great pause.
Still that may be my only hope. i'll check out the cruforge. I would love to make a knife out of this stuff I've heard about recently called "Magnacut"..but again, plate quench. I'd love to make something like a saber or an Albion Principe styled blade.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I don't know how much knifemaking experience you have, but jumping to sabers and large cruciform swords is a big step. Best to learn to make a good 3" bladed knife first.

I see in your profile you want to make movie sword replicas. You can do that without HT if they will merely be wall hangers.
If you want to make hardened and functional swords in those shapes, it can become a very skilled craft. I once told a fellow who figured a 24" sword was only four times the difficulty as a 6" knife that the difference was closer to 100 times more difficult. If trying to reproduce a make-believe sword as a functional blade, the difficulty can rise to 1000 times harder.

Often, folks get a nearby knifemaker to do a single blade HT for them. A shop visit with a six-pack of beer is often all it takes. Be aware that not all knifemakers or HTer can harden a sword.

Editing your profile to zero in your location a bit better would help another maker near you offer some help ... or even some steel. Pacific Northwest is a pretty broad location. Seatle, Washington (e.g.) would be a better way to show your location.

Yes, the wait time is many weeks right now for most of the major HTers. This is time that can be used working on other knives/swords or on handles. A good sword project can take many months to over a year depending on how many hours a week you have to work on it.

As to steels, if you ar planning a sword, 1075 would be my suggestion. It can be hardened in a very simple forge. I have hardened 30" blades in a 16" long forge many times by "pumping" the blade. There are several older threads on making and Hting swords that you can find with the Custom Search Engine.
If you really want a tough and light fantasy sword, titanium is another possibility. Take a look at the stuff Mecha makes (Sam Taylor - Mad Science Forge)..

 

[DaNoog!]

I don't know how much knifemaking experience you have, but jumping to sabers and large cruciform swords is a big step. Best to learn to make a good 3" bladed knife first.

I see in your profile you want to make movie sword replicas. You can do that without HT if they will merely be wall hangers.
If you want to make hardened and functional swords in those shapes, it can become a very skilled craft. I once told a fellow who figured a 24" sword was only four times the difficulty as a 6" knife that the difference was closer to 100 times more difficult. If trying to reproduce a make-believe sword as a functional blade, the difficulty can rise to 1000 times harder.

Often, folks get a nearby knifemaker to do a single blade HT for them. A shop visit with a six-pack of beer is often all it takes. Be aware that not all knifemakers or HTer can harden a sword.

Editing your profile to zero in your location a bit better would help another maker near you offer some help ... or even some steel. Pacific Northwest is a pretty broad location. Seatle, Washington (e.g.) would be a better way to show your location.

Yes, the wait time is many weeks right now for most of the major HTers. This is time that can be used working on other knives/swords or on handles. A good sword project can take many months to over a year depending on how many hours a week you have to work on it.

As to steels, if you ar planning a sword, 1075 would be my suggestion. It can be hardened in a very simple forge. I have hardened 30" blades in a 16" long forge many times by "pumping" the blade. There are several older threads on making and Hting swords that you can find with the Custom Search Engine.
If you really want a tough and light fantasy sword, titanium is another possibility. Take a look at the stuff Mecha makes (Sam Taylor - Mad Science Forge)..

Oh I've made many a blade in the past. All shapes and sizes. many kinds of steel. Just not the most advanced stuff, which i consder air/plate to be.I've got truckloads of 5160 and 10 series steels.
Is there a west coast version of NJ steel baron? shipping might be less...

 

[DaNoog!]

There is a small knife company in Thailand who specialize in L6 bainite, they quench the steel in salt bath above Ms temp for a couple hours to gain bainite structure then gas torch edge with control equipment to get the martensite edge so they have the superior toughness(?) of bainite and edge holding of tempered martensite.

I'd lovee to see how they do this. Any video links?