Strange metal.

R

RaiderJameson

Joined
May 23, 2022
Messages
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I recently qcuired a swift spring (coil spring commonly used in racecars) and made two knives so far out of it. However, neither of them are hard, even though i used the standard proccess and parks 50. I looked it up and found that the metal that swift springs uses is called HS5.TW, a proprietary metal. I wanted to know if any of yall had heard of that before or used it. I have sent an email to a possible information source and i will let yall know if i found anything out.
 
Make a couple could coupons out of it and do some testing.

I tried making a knife a while back out of some spring and it wouldn't harden in parks 50, I ended up having to use brine, and a higher aust. temp to make it harden.
 
Many springs are hardened by non-martensitic means. E.G. 17-4, 17-7, 301 stainless - none will respond to a standard martensitic-based heat-treat recipe, because none use martensite as the basis (or sole basis in the case of 17-7) for their hardness.
 
12345678910 said:
The marketing constantly mentions lighter weight

Are they hollow, or smaller in diameter ?
Click to expand...
Less coils and sometimes smaller Dia. of wire , racing things :)

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RaiderJameson said:
I recently qcuired a swift spring (coil spring commonly used in racecars) and made two knives so far out of it. However, neither of them are hard, even though i used the standard proccess and parks 50. I looked it up and found that the metal that swift springs uses is called HS5.TW, a proprietary metal. I wanted to know if any of yall had heard of that before or used it. I have sent an email to a possible information source and i will let yall know if i found anything out.
Click to expand...
If you bought known knife steel you would have had two quality knives and less time and money wasted.

Racecar springs don't make "race car" knives.
 
So many screw ups can happen when making a knife. Sometimes a knife cracks for no known reason. A slip up in the bevel grind can cause a remodel of the knife. Scales glued up backwards, inside out, not bookmatched. Lots of grinder booboos, my shaky old man hands can't help it.

One thing I can control is what leaves the shop with a customer. To me that means knowing with confidence what steel the knife was made from, that the knife received proper heat treatment for THAT steel, the final hardness, and proper fit and finish.

Playing with mystery steel seems a good way to waste time and ruin reputation.
 
A.McPherson said:
Make a couple could coupons out of it and do some testing.

I tried making a knife a while back out of some spring and it wouldn't harden in parks 50, I ended up having to use brine, and a higher aust. temp to make it harden.
Click to expand...
Tried that still didn't harden.
12345678910 said:
The marketing constantly mentions lighter weight

Are they hollow, or smaller in diameter ?
Click to expand...
Probably just lighter metal because they aren't hollow.
DeadboxHero said:
If you bought known knife steel you would have had two quality knives and less time and money wasted.

Racecar springs don't make "race car" knives.
Click to expand...
Keith Nix said:
So many screw ups can happen when making a knife. Sometimes a knife cracks for no known reason. A slip up in the bevel grind can cause a remodel of the knife. Scales glued up backwards, inside out, not bookmatched. Lots of grinder booboos, my shaky old man hands can't help it.

One thing I can control is what leaves the shop with a customer. To me that means knowing with confidence what steel the knife was made from, that the knife received proper heat treatment for THAT steel, the final hardness, and proper fit and finish.

Playing with mystery steel seems a good way to waste time and ruin reputation.
Click to expand...
Ya. Couldn't agree more. I am going back to leaf spring, which I have made a knife out of that got thrown onto concrete and took almost no edge damage. Seems safer.
Thank yall for all of the input. The spring company is extremely tight lipped about their metal and wont even tell their marketers that I emailed. So a week wasted but I have gained a lot of insight on some techniques that I can use.
Again thanks for all of the input, very helpful.
 
Couldn't find the HS5.TW steel but the baseline Hs5 properties are available. Those might help in finding a good heat treat
 
Unless you're buying brand new leaf springs that are labeled as being 5160, thats still adding some chance. And even then, its probably cheaper to just buy 5160.

If not, besides the chance of it being another steel. https://www.yostsuperior.com/fatigue-life-in-springs/

If you get a spring that happened to be used for years, i would think you could see issues that you wouldn't otherwise with new steel.
 
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