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L6 Sawblade Steel?

echo-7

echo-7

Joined
Aug 1, 2003
Messages
915
Gentlemen/ladies,
I have been looking for L6 Sawblade Steel. They use to sell it by the pound. Are those days over? Or am I just missing it somewhere? Any help would be greatly appreciated..Mike :cool:
 
WilsonKnives said:
Admiral steel sells L-6 in bar stock................I think
Click to expand...

They sell 8670, which is sorta similar. Dan Gray sells sawblade steel, some of which might be L6, but I think most is 15N20, which is pretty close.
 
Look for 15N20 bandsaw steel. Most everyone is coming around to the fact that saw blades are not made of L6.
 
George,
I havn't browsed the site since they cut off acess to the online order system. It worked great for me but, apparently alot of people had problems with it.
Just call them, the # for department you want to talk to is 866 790 9092.
Tell them I sent you
PS Iknow they were making flats a year ago, But they might not be now, I buy round stock and forge it down
Del
 
Carpenter offers L6 in flats, almost never less than 3/8-1/2" in thickness however. Crucible offers it only in rounds, but you can get them in almost any diameter. Perhaps one day most folks will come around to the fact that sawblades can be made of virtually anything the manufacturer feels like, resulting in the inability to be certain of what you have regardless of the alloys one wishes it was. This is especially true since the most economical way to make them these days is to insert carbide tips onto any steel that will not come apart in use and doesn't require a fancy heat treat.

Most folks out there make the assumption that L6 and 15n20 are pretty much interchangeable, when in fact the only thing they have in common is nickle, and then not even in the same ammounts. 15n20 is a very nice steel that is pretty much 1075 with nickel added, while L6 is a whole different beast (Cr,Mo...) that has a very contrasting heat treatment.
 
Thanks for the help guys. I will take your advice and look for the 15N20. Anybody got any tricks for heat treating/tempering it?? Thanks Mikey
 
echo-7 said:
Thanks for the help guys. I will take your advice and look for the 15N20. Anybody got any tricks for heat treating/tempering it?? Thanks Mikey
Click to expand...

I bought some of Dans blade stock. I'm not recommending you DO this, but you may want to try it..

I heated to to 1475 - then plate quenched - (I know - shouldn't work).

What I got was RHC 61 - tempered to RHC 58 or so and I have both a paring knife and and a carving knife that are performing pretty well. This shouldn't work - but with the real thin stock, the plates just suck it cool in nothin' flat - and speaking of flat.............

If anyone else tries this, let me know how it works for you.

Disclaimer. This just playing with possibilities. This is just a recommended experiment - not a recommended practice (yet).

Rob!
 
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