Help with old springs

R

Roger

Well-Known Member
I'm making some knives for friends that enjoy old Ford trucks like I do. I would like to make them from early 60's Ford pick-up front coils. Anyone know what kind of steel they might be? I'd like to 'assume' they would be 5160 unless someone has a better idea.

Thanks.
 
I don't forge so keep that in mind. But, I was reading a book about loveless when he first started and he mentions that most coils are 5160 but also warns that the quality (as far as purity) was hit or miss. I suppose the only way to really find out is to procure a few coils and play with them.
 
Normally in US cars & trucks of that time they are. The few I have gotten pieces from would harden and have held their edge. Try a chunk and test it.
 
I think the new car springs may be made from 9260 ,which is about same as 5160 with the addition of of silicon / not sure how much silicon is there but , I use 9260 for some sturdy swords. I have seen some leaf spring made from 1095 . Most of the time MFGs usually pretty good steel for springs and some steering parts and various other car parts made for tough use . I have 10 old studebaker springs sets cut up into forgable pieces... 5160 , 9260 are ht the same .... I would say its a pretty good bet its 5160 ......... yea give a small piece a shot !!!
 
Chances are good that it'll be a good blade steel. Forge a piece down to a knife-like cross section and heat treat, then test to see how it does.
 
P1010302.jpgI did a quick test on a piece tonight. I heated it a bit to get it into a flat piece with a slightly tapered edge. I heated up again in the forge and let it air cool while the oven warmed up, About 10 minutes. I put it in the oven and let it stay there at 1550* for about 15 min. I took it out and tossed it in a bucket of room temperature (60* or so) canola.

I put it in the vice and beat the hell out of and and it just looked at me and laughed. I figured it would break but it didn't. I took a file to it and with no pressure on the file it slid over the mystery metal. With a lot of pressure I was able to file on it a little bit. Seemed strange so I took the hack saw and tried to cut it, ruined the hack saw blade and didn't make a dent in the metal. I have a little more equipment at work and will try to break it to look at the grain tomorrow.

It's tomorrow. I was able to snap my test piece of mystery metal in a press. Here is what it looks like, comments please on the outcome.
 
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I was told to break an old file to compare the grain - the grain is so small it's not really visible as "grain", but more of a "gray" look. Looking at the enlarged view of your photo, it "looks" like the grain has almost that gray look with very small grain. I'm "assuming" the dark section in the middle is shadow or something. I'll be watching to see what some of the "real experts" have to say. I know my limitations - tiny<:)

I have forged a few blades from old coil spring and the blades tested around 56Rc doing much the same process you used.

Good luck and have fun.
 
When I lived in Arizona, I went to Tucson Axle and Spring company where they customized hot rod truck front ends from the 50s and 60s. They would remove the old set of leaf springs and had a huge stash of them. They even labeled what they came off of. I had an awesome collection of leaf springs and it all felt about the same under the hammer when I worked with it. The axle and spring shop said they believed it all to be 5160. They also replaced broken springs on people's vehicles and they told me they used 5160 for the new ones. I think it's a very safe bet to say leaf springs from the 50s and 60s off of US made cars and light trucks are 5160.
 
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