L6 steel

R

Riley White

Joined
Feb 14, 2004
Messages
84
I bought some L6 steel because a number of posts have claimed that it is a very tough steel. I am also interested in mixing it with something like 5160, 1095, or 52100 in a Damascus steel. I would like some input regarding Hardening/tempering and a preferred mix in Damascus.
 
Hey guys, someone must have some information about hardening/tempering L6 steel. I have looked at Admiral Steel's web page and didn't find anything about L6 and that is where I bought the steel. Is there a websight that has this information? My experience on the internet is limited and I am not too sure where to find this information.
 
I've never used Admiral's steel, but have used Crucible's L-6, and I can tell you it's a pain to anneal. I finaly got it soft by triple normalizing and then for the annealing cycles I took it to just below criticle three times letting it cool down in wood ash between two plates heated to non-magnetic. I don't have a oven to bring it down slow like it's suposed to be done. The chrome in L-6 makes it air harden somewhat.

I've mixed it with 52100, 5160, 1084, 0-1, and 1095, and the best mix I came up with was 0-1 and L-6, but the 1095 wasn't bad eigther. Basicly weld it up, get the layer count you want, and triple normalize, and triple aneal. Then heat to non-magnetic and quench in oil heated to 135-160 depending on the type of oil you use, the faster the oil, the lower the oil temp.

temper at 350f. for two hours, flex the edge, if it chips raise temper temp 25 degrees till it quits chipping out.

Hope this helps.
 
Thank you Will. It does sound like a pain. Do wou have any personal experience regarding the toughness of the steel.
 
O-1/L-6 makes a nice mix. Do a search for comments by Kevin Cashen about L-6. Howard Clark has a video of what an L-6 blade can do . Do a search on www.swordforum.com .I think Admiral's L-6 is made by Carpenter.That and Crucible's handle differently.Harden both at 1450-1500F, temper 350-500F.
 
A few of my experiments with L-6 were complete failures, and a few were outstanding, most were just pretty good blades. One of the outstanding blades I edge quenched and tempered at 400degF. if I remember right, it cut about the same as my 1095, but I flexed the 5" blade 180 deg. 6 and a half times before the edge cracked. When you work out a good heat treat for L-6 it will realy take some abuse, may not be the best edge holder, but for a combat or survival knife it would be one of my first choices. When I did get the edge holding up the toughness droped off a little, but was still very tough. But at that range it's a toss up for me between L-6 and 5160, and 5160 is not near the pita that L-6 can be. With a good heat treat oven it wouldn't be so bad.

Good luck, if you use it just work up a few test blades and keep notes and see how each holds up and performs.
 
I have only worked with 1095, 5160, and 1084 and have had no troble with them. They seem to be straight forward steels but this L6 and the 52100 are sounding like another story.

Thank you again Will. Oh do you have any comments about 52100. I noticed it with your name.
 
L6, at first glance, is a very friendly steel in all categories but annealing. But if you know how to manipulate the stuff even this can be done with the simplest of tools. With .75% C it is a eutectoid steel at best so all one has to do is keep those alloy elements from holding the carbon in the matrix. Simply forget about lamellar annealing (making pearlite) and go with very high temp (900-1200F) tempering instead.

Since it is so easy to harden, avoid harsh quenches, any oil will do just fine. Even at high rockwells L6 has more impact toughness than any of the steels you have mentioned.
 
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