52100,15N20, 1080 damascus

[ryan9977]

hey guys.....i don't have alot of knowledge about damascus and had a question....i saw a maker who used 52100,15n20, and 1080 in a damascus blade.......i thought it was an unusual combination .....i have never seen it before at least.....is it a good combination of metals?......the only reason i ask is curiosity.....ryan

 

[Sam Salvati]

The heat treats it seems would be very different for the 52100, but similar for the 15n20 and 1080, so I don't think that's a good mix as you wouldn't get optimal performance out of each steel because you have to compromise one or the other.

 

[deker]

I'm going to disagree with Sam a bit here. The heat treatment for all 3 steels involved here is to heat to 1500-1525F before quench in a fast oil. The difference is that 52100 likes more soak time at temperature. No problem, that won't negatively affect the 1080 or the 15n20, they just don't require it. 52100 also benefits from cryo after quench in order to convert retained austenite to martensite. Being a hypereutectoid steel, it's got a lot more carbon to deal with as well as some of the alloying to make carbides. Again though, the cryo won't negatively affect the 1080 or the 15n20, they just don't usually require it.

So long as you can do some homework to find what tempering temps work out for your application (which you'd have to do with any steel) I think it would be just fine.

-d

 

[ryan9977]

thanks for the answers guys......i was just curious because i never heard of those steels mixed before.....ryan

p.s.-it'll be a looooong time before i ever try making damascus!