leaf spring vs. metal cutting band saw

M

Michael Bennett

Joined
Mar 2, 1999
Messages
666
I have a complete leaf spring - 5/16" x 3" x 60" and was wondering if this could be cut into strips with a band saw for forging?

Any experiences with this?

Mike
 
Heck Michael,just heat the spring and straighten it then start forging the Blades out of it before you cut it.that way all you have to do is cut the tang off and then you are ready to start the next blade,And you have a handle on the piece so you don't need tongs untill you are putting the final touch on the blade.
But if you are set on cutting it just go down to wal-mart and buy some metal cutting blades for your skill saw and cut it up with them,they are pretty fast and arent all that expensive compared to bandsaw blades...
Bruce

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Bruce Evans Handcrafted Knives
The soul of the Knife begins in the Fire!!!!!
Member of,AKTI#A000223 and The American Bladesmith Society
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Get and old ballpein hammer head and make a hotcut. Of course if you are looking for an excuse to buy a bandsaw, well that's another matter entirely.
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Sola Fide
 
Mike: Just pickup a new set of torches, if you want to come down here we can make short work of it.

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INDIAN GEORGE
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=261337
http://www.indiangeorgesknives.com/
 
Hey Mike, Bruce Evans gave you the right idea. Three inch is big stuff however if you plan to do things smaller than bowie size knives. I use a cutting torch and half material this width. Once the spring is disasembled I use the longest piece clamped over the next one as a straight edge for my cutting torch and get really good results. This done I use a big disc grinder to level up the cut edges and I always let that edge form the spine, not the edge of my blades. Since your going to heat to a forgeing temp,(past critical), and then normalize once your finished forgeing your blade, there's no need to wory about the effects of the cutting torch.
Nowdays I just buy 5160 in an annealed state 20 ft.+ in length in various lengths at about 72 cents a pound plus shipping, however leaf springs are 10 cents a pound at my junk yard here in town so the price is right if you've got the time to work them up to a forgable degree. Below is a link to my little home page; everything there is out of 5160 and that knife at the very top is a split car spring blade, I had a whole $25.00 bucks in that knife including the scabbard.

regards, <a href=http://www.main.com/~wilkins/homepage/page5.htm> my page...</a>

 
I've cut up a truck spring with a metal cutting blade on my table saw. It's slow work! Real slow. Doesn't make a very good knife either, in my limited experience. Most recent references I've seen say leaf springs are made out of 9000 series steel. They haven't been made of 5160 in some time. You'd be better off buying 5160, as suggested above.

Nice work, anvilring, nice site. Why do you like 5160 so much?

[This message has been edited by Nikk (edited 05-03-2001).]
 
George,

That's a most gracious offer! I may contact you offline to see if we can set up a time that's good for both.

Everyone else - thanks for the feedback. This has been most helpful!

Mike
 
mikeS

Send me an email and I'll put you on my list of people to send auction links to as I put my knives up on Ebay from time to time. My email address is:

mitchwilkins@main.com

regards mitch
 
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