My daughter is in the Navy working on the aircraft P3. A friend of hers sent me a few bearings from the plane to make her a knife from. I used the bearing race to make the knife. My question is what kind of metal is this and how do I heat treat it? I wrote the manufacter but I have not heard back. Any ideas? :confused: Thank you William Weathersby

It might be 52100,but it might not be.Thats the bad part of working with unknown steels.Bring it up to critical and quench in a thin oil.If you dont have real heat treating oils then a veggy will work.Pre-heat the oil to around 100 F .Temper in your oven at 375f to 400f for an hour.Let it cool and check the edge for brittleness.If its chippy ,put it back in for another hour at 400f.Continue this untill you get what you want for an edge.

The metals in the engines and shaft bearings should be pretty modern (unlike the electronics inside during my 12+ years in P3s!).... However, the nose wheel steering was very 1950's....

If you can make out the manufacturer on the race/searing set itself, it may be best to wait on their reply.... Did her friend say what part of the plane it came from?

How big was the bearing? Small ones often use high alloy races. Large ones often used case hardened low carbon races.

Patrick Nowak who hangs around at Anvilfire used to work as a metallurgist at Timken bearings. If you can supply more details he might be able to help.

Tom It is about 5 to 6 inches in diam. I am not sure what part of the plane it came from. How would I get a hold of Mr. Nowak? Thanks William

William,
If you have a small piece left over do a test hardening on it. Heat it to just above non-magnetic then quench in warm oil. See if it hardens. Put it in a vise and hit it with a hammer. If it breaks you got a good piece of steel if not and it bends then you probably have a non hardening material. It is good to try this before you put the time and energy into making a blade.

Post a question over at anvilfire for Patrick to see would be my suggestion.