Bad 5160

[Joe Walters]

I got some 5160 from Admiral Steel a couple months ago and some of the pieces are full of inclusions. *very* frustrating and expensive.

Does anyone know where to get some clean 5160 or 5168? I'm not concerned with pricing or shipping, but need to buy in relatively small lots. Any help is greatly appreciated. Bad steel sucks.

[Scott Wiley]

Hi Joe
Try Uncle Al at Riverside Machine.

Scott

[tom mayo]

all the steel I have ever bought from admiral was of low quality. I wonder if their prices might reflect buying up seconds from the factories. Most of the stuff I got had terrible bark with big pits in it. The best bet is to buy straight from Crucible for me.

[Joe Walters]

Thanks for recommending Uncle Al, I didn't know he carried steel. Just got a few bars in today and it was clean as could be in the section I worked, so I'm sure the rest of it is all good stuff.

It's excatly .25" thick and I've never had any 5160 that wasn't slightly oversized so it looks like he has a good supplier.

[John Frankl]

I got some good 5160 from Admiral, but I don't have much experience with them other than that. Terry Primos mentioned having the same problem, but Admiral replaced his 5160 with 1084 free of charge AND let him keep the 5160. You might try calling someone over there.

Good luck,

John

[kevin1050]

I use Aldo the 'New Jersey Steel Baron'. Yup, that is what he is called. Google it for his details. He is a fellow knife maker and stocks some of the best quality steel around. Plus he is a great guy to talk to. Customer service is top notch. Last batch of 5160 I got from him has had no issues.

[J. Doyle]

Originally Posted by kevin1050

I use Aldo the 'New Jersey Steel Baron'. Yup, that is what he is called. Google it for his details. He is a fellow knife maker and stocks some of the best quality steel around. Plus he is a great guy to talk to. Customer service is top notch. Last batch of 5160 I got from him has had no issues.

You do realize that this thread is over 10 years old, right?

Masterful thread resurrection though. Well done!


Just having a little fun with you. Welcome to this section of the forum.

[kevin1050]

I was reading thru the posts and realized 'after' commenting that it was an old post. Have to pay attention a little bit more.

[Doug Lester]

It's been that long. I think that the problem that people were having with 5160 back then was what got me started with 9260. Time flies.

Doug

[kevin1050]

I am sticking with 5160 for right now. I also use 10xx series 1075 up to 1095. I have had no issues with using Aldo and recommend him to everyone.

[J. Doyle]

Yeah Aldo's steel is good stuff. I get most of mine there now too.

[Ed Fowler]

I always use John Deer Load Control shafts as a source for my 5160. this is the pin that runs between the lift arms on the back of the tractor. I just talked to the top man at John Deer and their shafts are all 5160, some after market shafts are not.

If you can get a used one from a John Deer mechanic or dealer you will have a one inch round bar about 20 inches long and John Deer takes care of quality control for us. Good quality control of the steel we use is a true blessing.

When I started working with 5160 and multiple quench I tested a lot of poor quality control steel I bought from dealers provided a lot of learning about faults in the steel. At first I blamed my methods as I erroneously felt all 5160 steel was the same. until I learned to closely finally decided the steel was to blame some of the time. Later Rex Walter examined some of the blades that failed and pointed out the poor quality steel.

I switched to using used John Deer load control shafts and in all the blades we tested to destruction, not one had any flaws in the steel.

Been using and testing to them to destruction for over 30 years and never found a fault in one of them.

[Robert Washburn]

Ray Kirk has some that is good.