Blade Heat Treatments
Heat Treatments Normalizing The very name of "normalizing" best describes what this operation does; it brings everything inside the steel back to a normal or equalized state. By everything I mean grain size, carbide [...]
Steel Selection
With the plethora of steels available today one can easily get lost in just selecting the one to use. Each steel has its own chemical composition suited for the task for which it was made. Alloying elements [...]
Basic Blade Metallurgy
I have assembled this page as an introduction to some of the basic metallurgy involved in bladesmithing. The starting point of any blade is steel, an alloy of iron with a little carbon added, but [...]
W-2
W-2 was designed for applications where a very high surface hardness and a soft core were desirable. It has a wide range of carbon contents (0.6-1.4% C) and can have very good abrasion resistance in [...]
L6
A low alloy tool steel with additions of nickel for increased toughness. Some versions include molybdenum which increases hardenability and raises tempering temperatures. L6 has very low distortion in hardening and can handle less extreme [...]
O-1
O-1 is one of the most commonly available tool steels and has been an industry standard for many decades. It possesses a high dimensional stability during heat treatment and is not particularly vulnerable to decarburization. [...]
52100
One of 2 steels in the 5XXXX series listed by AISI that contains 1% carbon or more, for use in applications requiring high hardness. Knifemakers using this steel would be well served to study the [...]
5160
Considered a high-carbon alloy steel used for applications where toughness and deeper hardening is desired, such as springs. As-quenched hardness of 58 to 63 HRC is considered normal. Recommended Working Sequence For 5160 Forging: Heat to [...]
1095
1095 is a very simple high carbon steel that is easy to shape by forging; it lacks some of the manganese of the other 10XX series and thus has a slightly lower hardenability. It added [...]
1084
1084 is nearly identical to 1080 resulting in it being one of the easiest steels to work and heat treat with a variety of equipment but also having slightly increased edge holding. This combination makes [...]
1080
1080 has a slightly higher manganese content than other 10XX carbon steels before it allowing it greater hardenability. It is a very simple steel making it one of the most forgiving for beginners. It has [...]