kicker spring

[jawpaw]

Hello Everyone, If you were going to make an auto knife,what would be the best steel to make the kicker spring? Thanx JW

[L6steel]

17-4

[jawpaw]

thanx

[Jeremy Krammes]

I've seen them made out of TI. Not sure if thats the "best", but it worked great.

Jeremy

[ConverKing]

For every automatic I build I use Spring steel for the lickspring , that is what it is made for I prefer 1075/1095 HC but I have an infinate supply of Saw steel , I have several old diamond saw blades from those Monster walk behind concrete saws you have to saw them in 2 then cut the diamond incerpts off but the steel is better than anything you will ever find for springs , Heat it to med red (Non Magnetic) quench in oil temper by turning it blue and alowing it to cool 3 seperate time's , I have never broke one of them if you mirror finnish it it will not be bad to rust , I have broke stainless many times and have broke 1075/1095 a few times , if you need any more help or heat treat info let me know

[M.Alan]

jim ....I use 1095 and temper to an R-45 to47 It has excellent memory but 45% machinability so harder to work
I do Italian style stilettos (swing guards, swivel bolster release etc...) almost exclusivly and found 1095 to be better than anything else I've used to date. Most of the stainless I've used work hardens after a time and breaks although I've heard ph 17-7 stainless wont work harden. I used 440c on about 15 knives a few years ago on a recommendation and had 80% of the knives I built come back with broken spgs. Haven't had one returned so far after I started using the 1095.
point to note: I did massive amounts of experimenting with the rockwell on the spgs I make and you need a higher rockwell for a good throw. That in turn makes the steel more brittle and more succeptible to breaking if you go over the fine line.( there is a fine line but it depends alot on how much the spg needs to flex)
hope that helps a little

[Don Robinson]

I use .030" thick 6AL/4V titanium. My knives have a leaf spring.