'Spring Steel' is now what type?

D

DaQo'tah Forge

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Hi this is DaQo'tah

At my place of work, I can find leaf springs that have been tossed out all over the place.

I have made 3 knives with this type of steel, and they all sure seem to cut with the best after I used a type of heat-treating system I saw on the Ed Fowler 52100 video.

My leaf spring steel knives have all been etched to show myself that the heat treating was just the way a guy would want it to be.

But I was looking over some very old threads here on this BladeForums, and I ran into a comment that kinda upsets me now.

It seems that the steel that I thought was so good to use (Leaf springs) is not made of the 5160 or whatever you call it. The guy in the old BladeForums posting here said that it was very likely that my knives are made from a steel called 900 ?

He said that leaf springs have not been made from the other steel for a long time.

My question is - 'So?'

So its not the 5160 or whatever steel I thought it was, so what?...Is this 900 steel just a bunch of junk?
My knives sure seem to cut well,,,,and they seem to be easy to make sharp , should I have a concern here?
 
Da Qu, Iam 99% sure you have 5160. I havent even heard of 900? I buy 5160 from Swains Spring Service. It is great steel for knives and the easiest to find either new or used. If your heat-treatment worked than keep using it whatever the steel you have is. I like to buy virgin steel so I know exactly what I have for HT purposes. If you are concerned just buy new steel. Its all good experience.
 
Hi this is DaQo'tah

I searched again for the posting that upset me so much about the steel I like to use for my knives, (leaf springs)

I found the post was made by NIKK on 5-03-2001

the leaf springs are said to now be made out of something called "9000 series steel"

I still question, "So what?"...is this type of steel not any good?

(not sure if this next part will work, but here is perhaps the address of the post -

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=158430
 
Don't worry about that. The name of the steel doesn't matter as long as the knives perform the way they're supposed to. It sounds like you were happy with them before so, no big deal.
If your worried about getting steel in the future, just test a peice of each spring before making it into a knife. Heat a peice up and quench it, as long as it acts the same as your other stuff your good to go.
 
There are 2 makers in the north of australia who only use old steel for there knive. Or most of there knives They make using knives and get great feed back from the users.

For some applications and for piece of mind I would either buy new steel for special knives or just tell the customer what it is made from if he is happy you are happy and the knife works well keep going.

I use a lot of old steel myself. I make a certificate for all my knives. With all the old steel knives i give a history of what it was used for etc. A lot of people like that. It gives the knife intrest to them. Think about cable and chainsaw damascusthat is old.
For the other scientific types and perfectionists use the new steel.

One of the makers up north is Lionel Phrampton not sure of the spelling. I showed him a tomahark made from the end of a car spring the circle end was just the right size for a handle. Unfortunatly the spring was given to me and I don't know the make or model.

Keep going the history of the steel is a feature.
 
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