Should L-6 Bend drawn to dark straw color?

Mark Williams

Mark Williams

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Well if it should , mine didnt.

SNAP!!! (not an ethnic euphamism) :D

I had actually drawn it past straw into a pinkish color and it still snapped. Beautifully small frosty grain though. Even with an edge quench I might add. Maybe my witches brew quenchant is cursed. :eek:
 
Mark Williams said:
Well if it should , mine didnt.

SNAP!!! (not an ethnic euphamism) :D

I had actually drawn it past straw into a pinkish color and it still snapped. Beautifully small frosty grain though. Even with an edge quench I might add. Maybe my witches brew quenchant is cursed. :eek:
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That sounds correct for L6. You will need to go a LOT higher in temperature if you wish to bend it (a LOT higher). It is also worth mentioning that you can't edge quench L6. Just cooling Crucible L6 in the air can get you 61HRC :eek:
 
If someone has an L-6 recipe I'd love to hear it. I guess there goes color judgement. I need big oven :)
 
As a tool steel L6 should be heat treated to temperatures not color. As for a recipe it's on Crucible's website.Come out of the dark ages.
 
mete said:
As a tool steel L6 should be heat treated to temperatures not color. As for a recipe it's on Crucible's website.Come out of the dark ages.
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Mete is a funny dude. I didn't know you had it in you.

I wonder what people said to craftsmen in the "dark ages ? Hither thee, cometh out of thine stone ageths :D I'll check out crucible.

Is their data based on blade geometry or test hunks ?

Anybody have the real world voodoo recipe ? :D
 
Critical Temperature: 1325F(720C)

Preheat: 1250/1350F(675/730C)

High Heat: 1500/1550F(815/845C), hold 10/30 minutes at temperature. Quench in oil to hand warm, 150F(65C). For minimum distortion, parts may be removed from oil at about 400F(205 C), and air-cooled to hand warm.

Temper: 350/600F(175/315C); hold two hours minimum, four hours preferred.


As quenched 63-65
300 150 63-65
400 205 60-62
500 260 58-60
600 315 56-58
700 370 53-55

Hope this helps some Mark!!
Michael
 
Michael, thanks, I needed that info also. I took your advice and ordered 2,000 feet of L 6 from Admiral. Well, ok, maybe not 2,000 feet, but I did order 10 feet. Their O1 price is sky high! I was going to get some, to combine with my L6, but couldn't bring myself to pay that kind of $$ for it. One of you guys mentioned another source for O1 in a thread of Spanglers, I'll go look it up, and check out that price. I also ordered a little 1075/1080 from Admiral to play with.
 
Michael (L6Steel) Thanks for the info, i added it to my notes. and thanks a lot for adding the Celcius temps, makes it a lot easier since my meter only reads celcius :D
 
Well I just dont get it. I tempered two 475 degress cycles and it snapped like friggin glass at just past 10 degree bend.

Thanks a lot for the recipe Michael. And the bonus lack of smart ass comment.
:)
 
I've gotten it to bend to 90 with a 375 deg. draw and edge quench. I did a couple of experiments and what works for me is after forging to anneal in heated wood ash three times, use a torch to draw the whole blade to a dark blue three times then into the high tec toaster oven heat treat oven for a couple hours at 500 deg.(high as it will go) After all that I heat the edge ala Fowler with a torch and edge quench in Texico type A then back to the toaster oven for three draws at 375deg. F. This is with Crucible 3/4" L-6 round bar. At first I had a hard time getting it soft and after all is said I couldn't get the performance that I am getting from 52100, but it's still a good steel, just play with it and you will find out what you can do with it.

Good luck
 
Don't forget guys there are at least two kinds of L6 floating around out there, and by all accounts Admiral's L6 doesn't respond anything like Crucible's to heat treating. Like Kevin has said Crucible L6 will air harden on you while I've talked to at least one person who had trouble getting Admiral's L6 to full hardness until they bumped their austenitizing temperatures up a bit. This has come up in previous threads so perhaps we ought to automatically preface any post concerning L6 by actually saying "Crucible L6" or "Admiral L6" in the future.
 
My first mistake might be calling this L-6 to start with. I forgot to mention that its a piece of a huge sawmill blade that I was told was L-6.
 
Mete had a good point here, L6 (or at least the stuff from Crucible and Carpenter) is a slightly more complex tool steel, so it will respond better to slightly more complex, and precise, tools and techniques. You can get the most out of a 78 Chevy under a shade tree with a chainfall, a six pack, and a box of tools, but if you want to get the most out of an Indy car you will need to get a little more high tech ;) . I have always thought it was unfair for smiths to label a steel as not performing up to snuff when using less than optimal heat treating facilities for that steel. Remember, there are no bad steels, just poor heat treating and applications (applications- was the steel designed for that?).

rhrocker, experiment a bit before commiting to your steel combination. My experience shows that Admiral L6 may be a better combination with 10XX series or perhaps 52100. Crucible would definatley like O1. Be prepared to pay a bit more for O1 not matter what though. My current mix of choice is 60% Carpenter O1 and 40% Crucible L6. Starrett O1 would also work real well.
 
Guy Thomas said:
Don't forget guys there are at least two kinds of L6 floating around out there, and by all accounts Admiral's L6 doesn't respond anything like Crucible's to heat treating. Like Kevin has said Crucible L6 will air harden on you while I've talked to at least one person who had trouble getting Admiral's L6 to full hardness until they bumped their austenitizing temperatures up a bit. This has come up in previous threads so perhaps we ought to automatically preface any post concerning L6 by actually saying "Crucible L6" or "Admiral L6" in the future.
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Thank you very much Guy! I have done some testing on Admiral L6 and found its behavior rather different. It welds beautifully. heating to critical and air cooling will get you mid forties in HRC. Heating and quenching easily got it to full hardness for me, I am trying to remember the exact number, I think it was above 62HRC at least.

Also remember in the hard core L6's there is Crucible (which is the most extreme) and there is Carpenter (which harden fairly easily as well) but the tempering numbers will be radically different between the two. Carpenter does not have the Moly that Crucible has and this makes for great heat resistance.

Mark, sorry, as you have pointed out, with "mystery" steel ALL bets are off. When ever the words "it is supposed to be..." are included, the variables get so out of control that I usually run the other way ;)
 
I know what you mean Kevin . I just cant help myself with the mystery steels. I just like playing with the stuff to see what happens. I'll get serious one day. And then get bored and quit.
 
Hey guys,
We had trouble recently with some Admiral L-6. Quenched at several different temp. between 1475 and 1625 after having problems at 1550, which had worked well in the past. Even tested the same batch with unground test pieces which hardened perfectly at 1550. We were making some large pieces, kukris specifically, that were fully ground. We kept testing the edge with a dull file, and had no problem taking a good peel off. We scratched our heads and fooled around with the temp. to no avail. Finally we decided the put the hammer to a piece and sure enough it snapped in one blow. Here's the tricky part, the thin edge, about 1/8 to 1/4 into the grind held on and just kind of twisted. Don't know if the edge was losing heat too quickly on its way to the quench, or if the very thin edge suffered carbon loss. We tried to shield the edge with two strips of mild wired on but to no avail. Any ideas?
 
Dave said: "We had trouble recently with some Admiral L-6."

Well CR@P. Wouldn't you know I just ordered some yesterday. Wonder if I can cancell it?
 
Way back when I was experimenting with L6 I came up with a great cutting blade, edge quenched and tempered at about 400 f. It made 90. then 180 degree flexes like a spring. At the time 80 cuts was a big deal, this blade made around 180 and edge flexed, chipped after about 15 edge flexes. As always the quench oil was Texaco Type A at 135 f.
 
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