Machette steel selection

C

cuttingedge

Joined
Nov 29, 2003
Messages
2
Hi all

Am planning a machette project & would like some opinions on the choice of blade material.
OAL will be about 22", 1/4" stock, material available on hand are A2, D2 & CPMS30V.

Impact strength is probably the biggest concern.

This will be my first large wacker, What hardness should I get the heat treater to aim for with the chosen steel.

Thanks in advance
 
They will all work ,I suppose the choice would depend on wanting stainless, semi-stainless or rustable. That long and heavy a blade will give you some very serious chopping ability. Just keep the hardness to 55-56 for toughness.
 
unless you plan on having a really thin profile and a good distal taper 1/4 will be too heavy to swing fast and cut through most brush. That would be great for heavy chopping but for cutting most small tree limbs, blackberries, brush etc a thin light blade is way better.
For cutting up to 2-3 inches a light thin blade will outcut a heavy one. once you start cutting limbs that are stout enough not to move when the blade hits the extra weight will help but penetration is then limited be the thickness of the spine.


That being said I would go for cpm3v if you don't care about stainless and don't want to heat treat yourself.
 
you can use what you will... but..
I don't like 1095 (only my 2 cents here)
other than for a machete or Damascus
( ask me why after this deer season)
but it is a spring steel and you can
differential harden it
or differential temper it ,,
edge at about 58 Rockwell, convex grind.

I've made 3 for a land surveyor out of 5/32" stock,
2 at 26" long and a shorter one

he's whacked a line up to 1500' in one day and will
chop tree's up to 6"
I'll give you his e-mail addy if you'd like to check it out..
The first one I made for him was over 3 years ago
and he's still using it..
the 2nd one for a back up and the shorter
for a play toy.

he's used machetes for many years and won't buy anything else now
this says a lot at least to me...:)
 
Free drop on steel choice? I'd go with L6. CPM 3V would work great (but be expensive). S7 and S5 would be super tough.

Read this thread... includes some info on toughess are various hardnesses. Aim for max toughness for a machete:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=274115

None of the choices you mentioned as having on hand are really suitable for a machete. If you have to choose from those, then A2.
 
I agree A2 is a super steel just keep it clean,and the steel is not expensive,you can pick it up on ebay for a very cheap price
and if HT right is holds a very good edge.Just my thoughts
 
Not really knowing but just for fun - of the ones he listed and before looking at any of the responces I chose A2. If he had listed 5160 it would have been my guess.

RL
 
5160 would have been my choice too, Roger. It's an available steel, just get a good leaf spring from the local junk yard. You could edge quench and temper the steel giving a flexible back spine to an extremely tough edge. I've made several heavy choppers (both thick and thin blades) like this and have had wonderful results. My $.02
 
15N20 - the thin stuff. A friend of mine gave me some stock that I am going to use. If heat treating yourself, check the size of your oven first. I plan on edge quenching.

Craig
 
Thanks for all the info.

The project idea came from a malasian sword .
Its spine was around 1/4 thick. Had a full height flat grind & distal taper. So overall was quite quick handling.

Heat treatment will be farmed out & will not be differential. My biggest worry was having the item fail because I grabbed the wrong material or had treated to hard.

Thanks

All info is appreciated
 
Originally posted by cuttingedge
The project idea came from a malasian sword .
Click to expand...


That Malaysian sword was probably made from the same stuff(leafsprings), that J. Neilson recommended above. It's a common steel used throughout the region, and the supply is constantly replenished as vehicles are scrapped. :D
 
5160 is the most common used for " Machete " size blades over seas.
Ive made several out of 5160 with great result's . hint edge only quench.
 
With a machete, I too would have thought of 5160 or L6, differentially hardened. If he went with what he had,A2 would seem to be the best for ecconomic reasons as well as toughness. One interesting note about A2 is that, according to Crucible, it is the toughest at HRC 60 and 57. Now that seems strange, and I have wondered if this is a typo in their book. I know it is known to be very tough at HRC 60, but why the sudden rise at precisely 57.

Temper temp Hardness Toughness (Charpy C notch)
400 61 31
500 60 41
600 59 37
700 58 33
800 58 31
900 58 29
1000 57 41
 
Sorry about the tables not lining up, that is not the way that I typed them. Of course, I can't type either.
 
I'd go with 5160 also. The sword you are talking about is quite close to a Matulis if I'm not mistaken. I love building and using them. I have always used 5160 for them.

They are what I call TOW's (Tool/Weapon)

Good luck
 
A2 is the toughest of the three. I like the idea of 5160 from an old leaf spring, with a nice distal taper and an edge quench. I have some old saw blade steel that is probably L6. It's 3/16". If you want to try a piece of it, send me an email and I'll send you some.

Todd
 
None of the 3 steels you mention are really suited to an impact cutter like a Machette. Unless you like edge chipping and possible breakage of the whole thing.

L6 or 5160 are much much much better choices... as several folks have already suggested.
 
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