[TheForge] Drilling hard metal-Thanks!

[Grant Marcoux]

Andy:  L-6 is one of my fave plain steels for blades....great toughness
(nickel) and ease of sharpening.  Some folks are making excellent sword
blades, both cutters and thrusters, from this steel.  Sadly, I'm not
convinced that it will be around much longer.  Maybe some others can weigh
in on this.

Yes, make the cooling as slow as possible.  When I was first taught to forge
blades, my first forged knife was of 5/8" L-6 drill rod.  We annealed it
under the forge ashes, on the highly heated brick hearth.  The blade was
softened to the point that it would be cut readily with a file.  If this is
the case, it will readily drill with a sharp HSS bit. Don't forget to pilot
hole and to pickle the scale off.  Grant

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Gladish Family
Sent: Friday, April 21, 2006 8:28 AM
To: Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Drilling hard metal-Thanks!


Thanks for the input, everyone!
A light went on when it was said that L6 is slightly air-hardening: I
think I simply have to take the Slow Cooling part of this much more
seriously.

Andy Gladish

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