What steel beginner edc?

J

Jessetheknifeguy

Joined
Dec 16, 2018
Messages
18
I'm sure questions like this get asked all the time but I'm new so I'll ask myself. I'm a beginner maker in high school and am thinking about upgrading my edc knife. The knife is forged from German spring steel, which is similar to 5160. I think. At least I treated it that way and it works. I would like to make a new personal edc blade in better materials but I only have access to basically a charcoal forge and my mom's oven. My current edc is six inches long overall. Full tang, ffg, about 3/16 thick and an inch wide. I can't figure out how to insert pictures sorry. The new one would be very similar. I haven't had any issues with the carbon steel but am not against SS so long as it's still relatively tough. Edge retention should be better than what I have but isn't a huge deal as long as it's tough. Anyway, what steel would you use?
 
What do you mean by an “upgrade”?

5160 is a great steel, provided you are getting the most out of it with your heat treat.
 
I'm probably not tbh. Also I'm not 100% sure it is 5160. I like the properties of 5160 though. How would you guys heat treat it primitively to get the most out if it? I did a differential quench in vegetable oil and tempered at about 350 for three hours all together.
 
An upgrade in what areas? From what I can tell it's used for industrial stamping and punching. How would it compare to 5160 and where can I get it. If you use it ht info would be nice
 
Better wear resistance but not as tough as 5160. It is tough though. I bought some from Bestar. It’s made in Germany.

Harden from 1525’f, temper at 375-400f.

Hoss
 
You can't HT stainless steel with a charcoal forge.

Other than just choice of steel, optimizing your HT and design, profiles, and geometry changes to adjust what you don't like about your current EDC will be upgrades. Possibly even upgrades that have more impact than steel choice.
 
A.McPherson said:
What do you mean by an “upgrade”?

5160 is a great steel, provided you are getting the most out of it with your heat treat.
Click to expand...

Not to hijack the thread but I have a question maybe you can answer. My friend is getting a knife made and is choosing between 5160 and 1080. The knife is going to be about a 3.5 inch edc type fixed blade.

Assuming heat treat is correct, which would be better for edge retention?
 
So it sounds like from what I've read other places that 1.2419 is like 01 in terms of performance and 80crv2 on between 5160 and 1095. I assume my assumptions are wrong but I want to know in wich direction I've erred. I found both of those in Germany too so that's great . Thanks
 
Jessetheknifeguy said:
So it sounds like from what I've read other places that 1.2419 is like 01 in terms of performance and 80crv2 on between 5160 and 1095. I assume my assumptions are wrong but I want to know in wich direction I've erred. I found both of those in Germany too so that's great . Thanks
Click to expand...

Think of 80crv2 as being between 5160 and O1. It has a bit of chromium to give it more toughness, a bit of nickel for toughness, a splash of vanadium to keep the grain fine (helps toughness), and the carbon content is at the euctoid point. That prevents the problems seen in higher carbon steels which require precise temp control to make sure the carbon ends up in the right places, not where it’ll make the steel brittle. 80crv2 is in the L2 spec. You can heat treat it fine in a forge, but it can do better with good temp control. The advantage over 5160 is better edge holding, with little to no cost in toughness. It’s not much like 1095 as 1095 is shallow hardening, and is hyper euctoid, requiring precise heat treat control, and engineered oil to quench properly.
 
Any ht tips? I think this might be what I'm looking for since I could use it on any type of knife or even sword. Eventually. Keep in mind coal forge and moms oven.
 
Jessetheknifeguy said:
Any ht tips? I think this might be what I'm looking for since I could use it on any type of knife or even sword. Eventually. Keep in mind coal forge and moms oven.
Click to expand...

1525f for 10 min, quench in heated canola oil. Temper 2hx2. I used 1475f into fast oil with good results too. I haven’t done a series of coupons at different temps to zero in on optimum. Most makers are reporting 1500f to 1550f with this steel, so I went with the middle of that range. It’s forgiving in heat treat, one of its advantages. If you have temp control, you can get more out of it, but you have a harder time screwing it up than you would O1 or 52100, other steels with similar chemistry, but higher carbon that can perform worse than expected quite easily if temps are too high, or soak is too short.
 
What color would that temperature be roughly? And what temp do you temper for medium toughness and hardness? The German supply website says 180 c /356 f for an hour for 61 RC but I'm not sure I want it that hard. Thanks for the help
Jesse
 
Jessetheknifeguy said:
What color would that temperature be roughly? And what temp do you temper for medium toughness and hardness? The German supply website says 180 c /356 f for an hour for 61 RC but I'm not sure I want it that hard. Thanks for the help
Jesse
Click to expand...

I’ve neverheat treated by colour. Maybe someone else can chime in. This steel is fine atRc60/61. It’s pretty tough. I always do two tempers.
 
Jessetheknifeguy said:
What color would that temperature be roughly? And what temp do you temper for medium toughness and hardness? The German supply website says 180 c /356 f for an hour for 61 RC but I'm not sure I want it that hard. Thanks for the help
Click to expand...

Don't go by any color in a book or online, what your eyes see can be very different depending the ambient light conditions as well as your eyesight. Colors are reproduced differently on different paper and different monitors, so it's not reliable. I always do HT in the dark to reduce variability of what I'm looking at but always rely on a magnet regardless.

Follow the advice Stacy gave, namely heat until non-magnetic, note that color and then go a shade to half shade brighter, not very scientific but it will work decent. The alloying elements in 80CrV2 may help avoid too much grain growth from overheating. Pump or move the blade around to help it heat as evenly as possible. It's not easy to soak for ten minutes like this, but a eutecoid steel like 80crv2 you can still do okay with very short soak, I try about 30 seconds. You just do the best you can when HT in a simple forge.

For tempering, remember that the hardness numbers given are for optimal HT. You may want to walk your temper up from a lower temperature. Basically try 50 to 25F lower at first then sharpen and test your edge. If too chippy, then temper again at sightly higher temp, test, evaluate, repeat as necessary.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top