Using a leaf spring

S

Sterlinghaney25

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Hey all,
A friend of mine told me he uses leaf springs to make his demascus blades, I've been making knives for years from store bought steel. Now I'm trying to get into forging and don't want to spend to much money on something I may potentially screw up. Have any of you used them before? What kind of steel are they made of and what would be the best way to pattern? Any help is appreciated I love reading about the blades y'all forge and would love to get into the game.
Thanks,
Sterling
 
Leaf springs are generally considered to be "5160", but they may also be 6150,9260 and even 1095 in some of the older ones..You'll never really know without an anylisis..
 
I have used them with mixed results. All of my first blades were leaf springs off one of my old vehicles. I assumed the steel was 5160 but that is just a guess. There in lays the problem. It could be one of several steels, 1080, 1095, 5160, 6150, 5140 or others. You have been having good results from store bought steel why change unless you have been buying from Home Depot or Lowes or the like. Most of us make pattern welded steel out of 1084 or 1080 or 1095 and 15n20. This is a good mix to use as it welds easily and readily available. How to pattern is a totally new topic. There are some stickies up top that might shed some light. If not then I know Deker has a great write-up on his website. browse the forums and check out the WIP's and they will help out a lot.
 
Im only looking at changing till I get thehang of it, I have a bunch of springs laying around so I thought I would give it a go. Did your blades turn out ok? I think I'll try some machetes or something I dont have to worry so much on appearance for the first one.
 
The other main issue with using steel that may or may not be what you think it is, is getting the HT right on that steel, but perhaps more importantly, the other steel that you do know what it is.

Steel combinations for damascus are usually chosen based on compatible HTing characteristics, and if not, the actual performance results of the piece are often highly compromised. If you're making purely for aesthetics, it might not matter, but as mentioned, springs can be a lot of different things. There's a lot of folklore about them being mostly 5160, and while that may have once been the case, it's no longer anywhere close to a given. 1095 is pretty common "supposedly", and combing 1095 and 5160 for instance, would give you a combination that have highly different needs in HT and highly different compatibility in your mating steel.

Also, considering the totally different end result in etch color, your patterns are likely to come out totally wrong, if you're expecting the 5160 to etch dark, or thinking you've got 5160 and expecting it not to etch as dark.


This is one of those cases where it might be best to get started with known steels, and then once you feel you've got enough knowledge, spice it up a bit.

Personally, I confidently know enough about random spring steel to use it for anything other than making random tooling with, but it's certainly great for that. You can buy a lot of top quality new steel for the price of a couple of good hardies or other tools that you might be able to make yourself, if you really need to save money, that's what I'd use the springs for. Assuming you've got the capabilities to work those springs down in the first place. ;D
 
Like I said above I had mixed results. If you have a bunch of it and are willing to do the testing it can do you fine. Make your Machete or even just a simple user and get the HT down. While you are doing that you can check what an etch will do on it. If it etches really dark it will mix well with the 15n20. I have use 5160 with 15n20 with great results. It can be a bit of a pain with the little bit of chrome in the 5160 but it doe a fine job. The other problem is where the springs over stressed. I have had a blade show spiderweb cracks I made from a piece of large coil spring. It was caused because the spring had been damaged. The problem was it did not show up until after HT. I had a few hours of work that was wasted (except for the experience). So if you are willing to deal with possible failures go for it. There have been a lot of good knives made from found steels. Just be aware of their limitations. Good Luck
 
Thanks for your advice I think I will start off with a known steel combo, this stuff might as well be chemistry with all the variables( thankfully I'm a science nut) so I think I will learn the basis before experimenting.
 
If you haven't done *any* forge welding at all yet though, it might be highly advantageous to practice with the spring steel before you start using known steel you'd like to get good results from. At the very least this will help you judge temps and conditions, flux, timing, etc.. A lot of us had a problem with trying to weld at temps that were too low at first, and sometimes you get it hot enough to stick but not enough to really create a good weld. So that would be a great exercise and use for the springs, which may help avoid wasting money.
 
Downside has been covered. My OPINION is if you have never forged, making any damascus is not a good way to start. Practice on some spring untill you have a feel for temps, hammer control and how the steel moves when you hit it. You have been making knives so you already know what you're after so PRACTICE for free first. When you can forge a blade shape to your satisfaction, go on to known steel & make some good knives. First few could likely end up back in the scrap pile. You will know when you're ready to forge knives that deserve to be finished.

Like I said, just my opinion. Be safe & have fun!!!
 
Thanks for all the advice y'all, I did wind up using a spring to practice with, got my shape I wanted and am going to work on it some more this evening, if my propane holds out till then. Decided to not make the demascus not yet anyways I'll post more later now back tO the hammer
 
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