March 21, 200719 yr Can stainless rod be hardened by heat treating and quenching in oil or water? I think its 304 . Thanx for any feedback.
March 21, 200719 yr Rough rule of thumb (and a blacksmith's thumb at that) that I have been told is that stainless a magnet will stick to can be hardened, and stainless that a magnet won't stick to can't. Am sure someone will answer with some real numbers.
March 21, 200719 yr 300 series will not harden. 420, 440 and some of the high alloys like 52100 will harden. Austenitic stainless will not harden - martensitic will (guess which is which above... :-)
March 21, 200719 yr Author Thanx, I have some that I wanted to be harder and tougher, but guess it will be what it will be. Thanx for the input.
March 21, 200719 yr 300 series will not harden. 420, 440 and some of the high alloys like 52100 will harden. Austenitic stainless will not harden - martensitic will (guess which is which above... :-) I don't belive that 52100 is generally considered a stainless steel. It has less than 2% chromium, and you usually need about 10% chromium to be a stainless steel:Stainless steel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
March 21, 200719 yr Torin, You are correct. Machinery's Handbook lists 52100 as a chromium furnace steel primarily used for bearings and race - not stainless. It may be more corrosion resistant than 1095 or something similar but it is not classified as a true "stainless".
March 21, 200719 yr Torin, You are correct. Machinery's Handbook lists 52100 as a chromium furnace steel primarily used for bearings and race - not stainless. It may be more corrosion resistant than 1095 or something similar but it is not classified as a true "stainless". And far be it from me to besmirch such a fine steel. It is a very good steel for knives. :)
March 22, 200719 yr I believe 300 series stainlesses will work harden, but that is not something most people try to do;-) But that won't hold what we would consider a decent knife edge, nor will it make the steel a "better" spring, stiffer maybe, but more likely to fail. 300 series is only good for corrosion resistance. For what its worth;-)
March 22, 200719 yr My metal supplier says that for anything on the coast, they use 303, because it wouldn't rust even if you left it in hot saltwater for a year(maybe not literally, but its pretty darn stainless). Other than its stainless-ness, it doesnt have much to recommend it.
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