[TheForge] spring steel thread

[David E. Smucker]

Lee,

Many springs are 5160, others maybe 1095 or other alloys.  New auto springs 
are "who knows what" but since you seem to be talking about older springs --  
assume they are 5160.

5160 is a chrome steel with 60 points of carbon or 6 tens of 1 percent 
carbon.  5160 is oil hardening.  If hardened it should be tempered -- and I 
would do that in a oven at 400 F for 1 hour.

BUT -- for most uses as blacksmithing tools you do not need to heat treat 
this steel.  Just forge your tool and let it air cool.  Dan Tull has been 
doing this for years and he is older than dirt.  Some of his tools maybe 
older than dirt too.

The reason to anneal is only if you need to drill or machine this steel, 
otherwise let it air cool and use.  If you do anneal this steel, then you 
will need to heat treat it, if you want to use it as a spring.  Heat to 
critical, quench in oil and then temper.  For springs you may want to temper 
higher that the 400 F I gave above.

If I have an unknown spring steel that I want to use for a "cutting edge 
tool" (woodworking or cold chisel) then I first try using an oil quench and 
if that doesn't give the results I want I move to a water quench.

Everyone who does heat treating will have cracking sometimes -- GOD says so. 
But the biggest reason blacksmiths have cracking is that they overheat above 
critical for a given steel.  Quench from too high a temperature with a steel 
like W1 (1095) or O1 and the chance of a crack is near 100 percent.  The 
history of use of old springs -- is another major factor in cracking of the 
steel in heat treating.  No much you can do about this except to hold your 
mouth the right way when quenching.

Dave Smucker

--------------------------------------------------
From: "lee robbins" <naturadoc1 at yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 8:14 PM
To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: [TheForge] spring steel thread

>
> HI All,
> glad to be alive after i rolled the backhoe on the
> downhill. Painted it the next day, lol
> i have been collecting rusted farm stuff, like a baler
> from the property. i have a wide assortment of
> springs. the question is after forging the spring
> steel if I quench it (oil, water im sure that varies)
> but then do you temper to prevent it from cracking. if
> you anneal it from red in perlite or vermiculite, will
> it have its spring characteristics and if so, less
> durable?
>
> experimenting with hand gardening tools.
>
> thanks for the amazing common mind here
> i am finally getting to my recently archived digests
> Lee
>
>
> 
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