The following information is taken from The Complete Bladesmith by Jim Hrisoulas. We use olive oil as a quench for these steels, it works well, smells nice, is non-toxic and reduces your cholesterol.
10-Series Steel
The 10-series are perhaps the most usable of the available alloys for bladesmithing. They are very stable and quite easy to form under the hammer. The following allows contain the following percentages of carbon and manganese:
1055
Carbon: 0.48 to 0.55
Manganese: 0.60 to 0.90
1075
Carbon: 0.65 to 0.75
Manganese : 0.60 to 0.90
Wear Resistance: Medium
Toughness: high to medium depending on the carbon content
Red Hardness: very low
Distortion in heat treating: very low
Forging: Start at 950 to 1010C
Austenite forging: Yes
Hardening: 790 to 840C
Quench: Oil
Tempering: 150 to 260C
RC Hardness: 62 to 55, depending upon carbon content
15N20 (L6)
15N20 (or L6) is a low alloy steel usually used in large saw blades and such. It is a very good steel but is somewhat red-hard due to the vanadium content. 15N20 has the following characteristics:
Carbon: 0.70 to 0.90%
Chromium: 0.03%
Manganese : 0.35 to 0.55%
Nickle: 1.4 to 2.6%
Phosphorus: 0.025%
Silicon: 0.25%
Sulphur: 0.01% maximum
Vanadium: 0.15%
Wear Resistance: Medium
Toughness: very high
Red Hardness: low
Distortion in heat treating: low
Forging: Start at 980 to 1090C
Austenite forging: Yes
Hardening: 790 to 840C
Quench: Oil
Tempering: 150 to 260C
RC Hardness: 63 to 55
5160
5160 is a medium carbon "spring steel" that has excellent toughness and high durability. It is quite flexible, resists heavy shocks well, and is well suited for swords, axes, really large bowies and other blades where a larger flexible blade is desired. 5160 has the following characteristics.
Carbon: 0.56 to 0.64%
Chromium: 0.70 to 0.90%
Manganese : 0.75 to 1.00%
Phosphorus: 0.035% maximum
Silicon: 0.15 to 0.35%
Sulphur: 0.04% maximum
Wear Resistance: High medium
Toughness: high
Red Hardness: low
Distortion in heat treating: low
Forging: Start at 980 C
Austenite forging: Yes
Hardening: 790 to 840C
Quench: Oil
Tempering: 150 to 260C
RC Hardness: 62 to 55