Bending Knife Steel

[jylong_away]

Hi Guys,

I'm a hobby-level knifemaker, and make a reasonable amount of 'industrial' type jewelry as well. My latest thing has been Titanium bangle/braclets, which I make by heating strips of titanium with a MAPP torch, and bending with a mallet.

Have been thinking of doing the same thing with 'knife steels', mostly S30V and such. Partly for the novelty, and partly for some of the structural properties, which might help with some design ideas.

Question is, does high-carbon stainless steel (annealed) hold up well to repeated heating/bending/impact cycles? I intend to follow it up with a proper heat treat cycle to harden once I've shaped the bracelets to my liking. So far the Titanium I've worked with has survived multiple heat/bend cycles without an issue, but I understand the properties of 6/4 Ti are quite different from steel.

Thanks for any tips!

Dave

 

[racjarrett88]

One way to find out

 

[Doug Lester]

One problem that I see is that high carbon stainless steels, such as S30V, are air quenching. That means that you cannot normalize them or they will become brittle. They must be annealed and for that you will need to have the right equipment to austinize it and control the rate of cooling. They will also work harden on you if you work them cold and they have a very narrow range that they can be hot forged at.

Doug