Steel recommendation

B

Blackdirt cowboy

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Oct 29, 2015
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I’ve been working primarily with 1084 carbon steel. I do forging and stock removal. I just bought a heat treat oven, and I have liquid nitrogen as well to do heat treating. The only thing I don’t have are quench plates, but I’m sure I could rig up something fairly easily. What steels would y’all recommend me to start working with, given my new heat treating options? I do like carbon steels the best, but I’m not against working with stainless as well.
 
Welcome to the world of controlled warping, sorry I meant heat treating!

On stainless, given it's a available to you, I say 14c28n. So easy to machine, so cheap, takes and holds a really good edge. I like it at 61-62 Hrc.
 
To go with what was just said, AEB-L is right up there for a “simple” stainless that’s cheap and performs very well (so I’ve read). It’s the first stainless on my list to use once I get an oven. For carbon steel usage, I’m looking forward to being able to do spheroidized annealing. One last thing I want to try is making some mokume gane. Never got the guts up to try in the forge and watch it all go to a puddle. With an oven, there’s a little less worry about overshooting the temp.

Curious to hear what others have to say that have ovens. Congrats on the cool new equipment.

Jeremy
 
AEB-L does indeed perform very well and has similar attributes in use to the high carbon you like.
 
You said you liked carbon steels, W2 and 52100 respond so much better to ht in an oven and perform wonderfully.
 
I like AEB-L. I also like 26C3. It is not stainless, but takes a great hamon and is really easy to heat treat.
 
What oven did you get?
 
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