Is there a good stainless steel for springs

A

ajohnson55005

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Feb 19, 2012
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Some where in the future I would like to make a liner lock folder. The original idea was to make it out of 100% stainless. Please read in to this that I am a truck driver and my mind wanders terrible, I actually one time dreamed up the still hunting stilts. Actually a great idea minus the recoil of a high power rifle standing on stilts 4 feet in the air. Of course during the drive I wondered about stainless springs and if it would work or if there is such a thing.

On a side note what are your opinions on the best spring steel for a liner lock
 
I have used 440 C for springs. It seems to have worked well.
 
I don't see any reason the same steel you use for the blade wouldn't work for the spring, if each part is tempered appropriately. I don't think the spring or lock has to be high-carbon, blade-suitable stainless, though. I do know that many, many custom makers and manufacturers do make their springs out of various stainless alloys.

Bear in mind, I've never made a folder, so I will hush now :p
 
301 Full Hard is hardened by rolling to about HRc 42. This is used for springs in many applications.
 
440 C can actually be heat treated for spring properties.
 
For a liner lock I would not use a stainless steel. The locking edges will polish and not engage any more. I have one made by a friend and you can break it closed as the spring will just slide to the side.
Stainless is fine for the blade. Use titanium for the sides.
 
Im sure most production made folders have stainless liner's. It does not hold up as well as ti. but will work very well.
 
Did not know or think of the polishing aspect of stainless. I always want to make the best knives I can so I won't be using stainless. Ti is some downstream stuff. What thickness is recommended, and does it need to be sent out for heat treat. I'm still pretty new at this and ti is a mystery to me
 
Bill, can you give us data on 440c springs? I was just about to start a new thread on that.
I wonder if the standard method of tempering to a rich blue will work, since it seems I've read that spring temper temp. for hardened 440c is around 925 f.
I'm looking at back springs for slipjoint and backlock knives, it makes sense to use the same material as the blade for esthetic reasons in these particular pieces.
Thanks!
Andy G.

BTW, there are tons of good, dependable liner locks with stainless springs- I think the geometry of the lockup has a lot to do with whether it tends to slip off the blade lock face.
I'm not the Expert at all, only about four months into folder making, but I get good springiness from 410 liner lock tabs by simply heating to orange and air cooling. I'm sure there's a much better way, but that's simple and works.
Not saying Ti doesn't have its advantages, just that SS is commonly used and also works.
 
Last edited:
ajohnson55005 said:
Did not know or think of the polishing aspect of stainless. I always want to make the best knives I can so I won't be using stainless. Ti is some downstream stuff. What thickness is recommended, and does it need to be sent out for heat treat. I'm still pretty new at this and ti is a mystery to me
Click to expand...

One of the many good things about ti is no heat treat necessary.
 
The only reason I used 440 C is that I was rebuilding a very rare knife that was all stainless. It was an Italian switchblade with a broken stainless spring.
I "eyeballed" the heat treat. Cherry red with canola quench. File test showed very hard. Tempered a little harder than I do with 1095.
Note: if you are using heat colors to temper-remember stainless doesn't show colors well.
Did the first knife about 8 years ago, and have since done another identical one. Both are working well.
I would think it would work well for backsprings. My only concern would be galling if both blade and backspring were the same stainless. This may or may not be a problem.
 
elementfe said:
Bill, can you give us data on 440c springs? I was just about to start a new thread on that.
I wonder if the standard method of tempering to a rich blue will work, since it seems I've read that spring temper temp. for hardened 440c is around 925 f.
I'm looking at back springs for slipjoint and backlock knives, it makes sense to use the same material as the blade for esthetic reasons in these particular pieces.
Thanks!
Andy G.

BTW, there are tons of good, dependable liner locks with stainless springs- I think the geometry of the lockup has a lot to do with whether it tends to slip off the blade lock face.
I'm not the Expert at all, only about four months into folder making, but I get good springiness from 410 liner lock tabs by simply heating to orange and air cooling. I'm sure there's a much better way, but that's simple and works.
Not saying Ti doesn't have its advantages, just that SS is commonly used and also works.
Click to expand...

When making springs of 440c do a normal quench, and the draw will be 1150 for 2 hours twice.
This will give you a spring of 49-50 Rc. Have serious doubts about just coloring it blue.
Ken.
 
Like most makers I use Ti for linerlocks. However, I did an interframe knife with a Damasteel blade a few years ago and just for the fun of it, I decided to do the spring in the stainless Damasteel too. Milled it down to about .050 and had it heat treated with the blade ( I dont do my own heat treat). This makes the spring way too hard at 59-60 HRC but so far it has worked flawlessly.
It should be noted that this is my personal knife and is not really exposed to a lot of beating.

Ti is the easier and superior choise but stainless will also work well if so desired.

Picture (I´m not S.Stoltz btw. Thats the engraver:D)

interframe spring.jpg
 
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