6 Attachment(s)
Coil spring steel crumbling
I had contacted a few of you guys via PM about a problem I had, but didn't have any pics at the time. My original query was:
I have access to these springs from the railroad that are basically a coil spring. I cut several rings, straightened them, and proceeded to beat them to submission. Man this stuff is tough to work, cold O-1 is softer. My problem is that once I have drawn out the coils, I am finding a lot of fractures, I'm talking about a LOT. Too much to even consider making a knife, much less a razor out of it. My question is, what causes such a thing? Bad steel? I'll get some pics tomorrow & try to post them on the forum.
Thanks,
Scott
I decided to go ahead with a piece that I had hammered out and took it to the grinder for a rough grind, heated it to non-magnetic & let it cool to black, heated it to non-magnetic and let it soak for 10 minutes, quenched in canola oil, tempered in oven at 375F for 1 hour, let cool to room temp.
I did a rough finish grind, never letting it get hotter than my fingers could handle just like any knife or razor, and took it to my DMT11C. The edge literally will crumble away once it gets close to a bevel set.
When I was working it, I will admit that there were times that I would let it get to "red" as I was working it as this stuff is SOOOO hard, annealed O-1 is literally twice as soft at room temp!
Here's some pics, notice the rough handle and some pics show fractures in the grind:
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