Plasma cutting stock, does it screw up blade steel?

[Dangus]

I have a bunch of old leaf springs I had plasma cut cause chopsawing them is damn near impossible. Does this hurt the steel quality very much?

 

[peter nap]

I still got my foot in my mouth from my last post Dangus but I would think it would play hell with the carbon content on the outer edges.

 

[R Dockrell]

When I get really behind I trace out my paturns on the bar stock then take it to a local shop to cut out with the plasma arc. I trace out the outline with a large white paint pen and instruct the opperator to stay on the outside edge of the white line. With a good opperator you can still see most of the white line even when the cut touches the outside edge of the line.
No ill efects to 1095, ATS-34, 440C, 5160, or BG-42. But you have to trust the opperator. Maybe take a couple to him to do a test on.
The plasma arc seems to somewhat harden only about 1/16 of an inch from the cut. The time of high heat is not very long in this procces.