Newbie steel question

[erhodes]

So I just started getting into forging and have been doing some stock removal on 1095. Got the heat treat and tempering down on that but finally got an anvil setup as well and bought some steel. A local business was having a renovation sale and I purchased some round stock and flat stock from them. Got some 4140, o-1 and some just labeled as spring steel. Figured for around $.70 a lb it would be something to learn with.

My question is should I treat the spring steel as if it is something akin to 5160 for heat treat and tempering? I have a decent amount of it so figured I would run a small test piece before really forging it but wanted to see if anyone has tips, tricks, or just in general advice on it or working with any of the other steels.

 

[Joseph Bandeko]

If your heat treating in a forge then I would say yes, treating it like 5160 should be fine.
My concern would be that being “spring steel” it might very well have cracks in it, which is REALLY bad.
Depending on what it was used for and if it looks clean, in good condition and you have a lot of it, it might be worth sending of a sample for testing, so you know exactly what it is.
Just my two cents, hope that helps.

 

[erhodes]

If your heat treating in a forge then I would say yes, treating it like 5160 should be fine.
My concern would be that being “spring steel” it might very well have cracks in it, which is REALLY bad.
Depending on what it was used for and if it looks clean, in good condition and you have a lot of it, it might be worth sending of a sample for testing, so you know exactly what it is.
Just my two cents, hope that helps.

It is actually in round stock and one in flat bar stock. Apparently the company made dies and such so all the steel was brand new and never made into anything. May be worth cutting off a chunk and sending out for testing since I got about 40 lbs of it (he threw in the 20lb 1” round bar for free)

 

[Joseph Bandeko]

It is actually in round stock and one in flat bar stock. Apparently the company made dies and such so all the steel was brand new and never made into anything. May be worth cutting off a chunk and sending out for testing since I got about 40 lbs of it (he threw in the 20lb 1” round bar for free)

Yeah I would get it tested. And the 1” round is perfect for integrals.
If you test it and it turns out to be something good, that is a very nice find!