C 130 Stainless Steel

[Brad Roland]

Hi All,

I was talking to a co-worker last night and he was asking me how would he go about heat treating C 130 Stainless because he wants to make a sword/knife ... imagine that!

Anyway, he said he wants to start out with a piece about 1 1/2 High x 1/2 wide. He wants to keep the entire thing one piece with no additives ... meaning no wooden handle, just the C 130 stainless. It is approximately 10" long (the blade). Anyhow, I told him I would inquire as I know next to nothing about this ... Ok, I know less than that, I know nothing about Stainless really.

Would he even need to Heat treat it? He wants the blade to be scratch resistant as well. Does he need to hammer on it? or just grind it down to dimensions that he wants?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Eric G]

brad ime not sure what is in c130 stainless steel but... i bet its not a hardenable steel .. you can make a knife of it but it wont hold much of a edge if its not a hardenable steel.if he wants a sword from stainless he would be better off buying some 440 c stainless .he can then grind the blade to shape then send it out to be hardened . without a wood or other material handle it will be hard to use ... good luck !

[Ries]

never heard of it.
I suppose that might be some proprietary name for an alloy only one company sells, but it doesnt sound like any common stainless alloy I have ever heard of.

where did it come from?

a lot of stainless alloys are NOT heat treatable at all, in terms of being able to harden them.
most of the ones you can heat treat are 400 series.

if its some wacky name brand for a real alloy, you would need to find out the actual chemical composition, and then we could look it up.

[Brad Roland]

thanks for the information all, shows what I know about metal .... Nothing! lol. I think he's now convinced that 440 c? is the metal of choice to work with. But at least with your folks help, he learned and so did I! Thanks again for the information!