Heat-treat recipes › 51605160 Heat Treat Recipe
Low-alloy knife steel · target 57.5–60 HRC · austenitize 1525°F (829°C)
Category Low-alloy
Austenitize (recommended) 1525°F (829°C)
Austenitize range 1500–1525°F (816–829°C)
Soak at temperature 10–15 min
Quench Medium-fast oil (Parks 50 used in the KSN study; AAA also common)
Cryo / sub-zero Optional — optional — KSN study used 15 min LN2; skipping may trade ~0.5 HRC for toughness
Temper 2× 2 h · cool to room temp between cycles
Reliable hardness 57–60 HRC
Classic spring steel — outstanding toughness for swords and choppers. KSN: best balance is 1500–1525°F + temper 375–400°F (58.5–59.5 HRC). Tempering below 375°F drops toughness sharply; 450°F+ hits tempered-martensite embrittlement — don't get creative.
Temper → hardness chart
Approximate HRC after a double-temper at each temperature (from the sources below). Set your target and pick the matching temper.
Temper °F Temper °C Hardness 350°F 177°C 60 HRC 400°F 204°C 59 HRC 450°F 232°C 57.5 HRC
Composition (typical, wt%)
Element % C 0.6% Cr 0.8% Mn 0.88% Si 0.25%
AISI 5160 typical (C 0.56–0.64, Cr 0.70–0.90, Mn 0.75–1.00)
HeatTreatBench — the recipes in your shop, offline Get the full 5160 recipe plus 25 more steels offline — set your target HRC and the app gives you the exact temper, with a forge timer and a per-blade log. Works in the shop with no signal.
Download on the App Store Sources
Knife Steel Nerds — How to Heat Treat 5160 (maker, 2019) ASM Heat Treater's Guide (1525°F, cited by KSN) (datasheet, 2019) More Low-alloy steels
Reference only — not a process guarantee. Heat-treat results vary with your furnace, quenchant and blade geometry. Always cross-check against your steel supplier's datasheet and test hardness on your own setup.
Recipes re-expressed from manufacturer datasheets (Crucible · Uddeholm · Böhler · Sandvik · Niagara) cross-checked against maker-proven practice (Knife Steel Nerds / Larrin Thomas, supplier HT pages). Get the offline app →