Thompson 60 case linear shafting ok for forging?

D

DukeHarley

Joined
Apr 11, 2014
Messages
644
I have about 3'-4' of Thompson 60 case carbon steel shafting and was wondering if its any good for forging down the road? Ive used it many times in the trade Im in in tooling and stripped some out of a repair job a few years ago and just wondered if anyone has ever used it for knife blades. Is it good for forging or just keep it for general projects.

Thanks in advance guy!

Jay
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
If the steel is "60 case", then it is case hardened..... not good for knives.
Click to expand...

I thought so too, but it's a brand name

http://www.thomsonlinear.com/website/com/eng/products/linear_guides/shafting/standard_shaft.php

There are several possible materials
Shaft Material:
1566 Carbon Steel
316 Stainless Steel
440C Stainless Steel
52100 Tubular Steel Shaft
6061-T6 Aluminum


Carbon Steel = 1566 Carbon Steel
http://www.thomsonlinear.com/website/com/eng/products/linear_guides/shafting/standard_shaft.php



Go to the source for info.



Now the question becomes is 1566 good for knives ?
 
I know its the 1566 carbon steel. I guess I need to find out the comp of 1566 steel. I do know for a fact that it is only hard one the outside about .050" deep then softens up.

Jay
 
Im going to guess the XX66 is the carbon content. Ill see what a Google search comes up with.

Thanks guys!



Jay
 
Last edited:
If you know for a fact that the shaft you have is 1566......it is .60-.70% carbon, 1% manganese, remainder iron. Just HT it like 1070. It is deep hardening, so you can use any medium quench oil.

I read a lot of conflicting data on Thompson case 60......
 
Last edited:
Jay- whats the diameter of it? Most linear shafting is case hardened only, and mainly from induction hardening. This may or may not be deep hardening but with the small cross section of a knife it is definately worth trying.
 
Antlerhog said:
I guess I need to find out the comp of 1566 steel. I do know for a fact that it is only hard one the outside about .050" deep then softens up.
Click to expand...

1566 is a medium carbon steel with added manganese to facilitate case hardening. I've machined Thomson shaft, but never tried forging it. It'll be a tough steel -- seems like it would be good for a hatchet or chopper.
 
Yes machining it is a real pain until you get thru the outside case. I'll probably just keep it around and try forging it at some point. Thanks for all the help guys!

Jay
 
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