Questions on steel

[Hagar]

First, what happens if 440c is heat treated like ATS-34 and vice versa.
( I had some 1/16 stock that I thought was ATS-34 but I found another peice that I had marked as 440.... I dont remember buying any 440 in that size)
Second, I was cutting out a sword blade from some 1/4" 440 stock. Using a skill saw with an 1/8 abrasive blade.
As I was about 8" from being finished I noticed that the free part of the sword blade had dropped below the rest of the stock and had pulled itself under the stock by about 1/4".
I could understand wood being stressed and doing this but steel???
Thanks for all your help!

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There is no such thing as "good enough", either your work is good or it is not. How is your work?

 

[george tichbourne]

Hagar
I don't think that what you experienced was stress related as much as heat related. Stainless steels have a bad habit of warping towards heat when heated on one side only.

The saw was creating heat on one edge of the piece that you were cutting out and the metal pulled towards that heat, finding a resistance in the parent material it slipped under the parent material and kept on warping. If you want to test the theory take a piece of stainless, clamp it in a vise and heat it with a torch from one side only it will warp towards the heat.

Your warped piece can be drawn back straight by applying a little heat and allowing it to cool slowly.

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george
www.tichbourneknives.com
sales@tichbourneknives.com

 

[Ravenclaw]

Hagar,

If you are planning on using your sword, you may want to re-think using stainless as it will eventually get hard and brittle and will break. All the custom swordsmiths I know will not touch it for their projects. They use the following types of steel: 1050, 1084, 1095, 5160, 52100.