Where can I buy 5160 spring steel?

[Fojtikk]

Hello, where can I buy 5160 spring steel or somthing like that?

[Dave Budd]

in this country as far as I can tell, you can't! The closest thing we have is EN45 which is a medium carbon silicon mangenese spring steel (I've been told it doesn't make good baldes, but I won teh cutting comp last year with it. make your own mind up )

Phone areound for tool and spring steel suppliers. Such as Graham Oxley, Admiral, etc. there are phone numbers here on BB somewhere if you look hard enough

[narsil]

Yeah EN series spring steels can be got, West Yorks Steel has them but is quite expensive for small orders. Sometimes local steel stock holders will carry them but you need to be prepared to explain exactly what you need.

[Underhay]

Car or truck leaf springs may be 5160 or an equivalent spring steel, and can be had very cheaply from breakers.

[narsil]

Spring steels can indeed make very good knives, however, there is a risk that they may have micro fractures which could, in theory, compromise a finished blade. I would, myself, advise a customer if they were getting anything other than virgin steel.

[BLADECRAFT8]

This can be got from your local scrap metal dealer.and is usually sold by scrap wieght value which is still cheap. Look for car leaf springs or if you can put in a bit more hammering truck leaf spring. Very good knives can be made fron car mac pherson strut coil springs, again if you look for the 15mm plus diameter heavier duty ones, these can make a broaded knife blade.
All you need is an angle gringer for rough cutting out and descaling after forging. I would not worry to much about the quality issues of recycled leaf spring for recycling. Just clean of all the external rust down to good metal on the leaf springs. Bash away to shape and pay attn to the heat treat and you will have a great tough blade.
GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY RECYCLING bc8