"Heat-Treating Steel - An Amateur's View"

By Randolph Constantine

In the November/December issue of The Home Shop Machinist magazine, Pages 50-54.

If you subscribe to this magazine, you've probably already read the article. If not, it should be available at your local library or newsstand. As far as I know, it is not available online.

The information is basic but covers everything, including what happens to the crystalline structure of steel when it is brought to critical temperatures, the differences between air-hardening, water-hardening and oil-hardening steels, tempering and even case-hardening.

Mr. Constantine is an amateur machinist but ties in the information to knifemaking in several places throughout the article, including the best ways to quench a blade as well as some more offbeat ways (such as the ancient manuscript that describes quenching Damascus by plunging the red-hot blade into the body of a Nubian slave -- "the slave did not survive").

As mentioned, the information is basic. You can find most of it on any of several online knifemaking resources. I mention it here only as an informational service for those who might be interested in an additional resource.

-Frank J Warner

Thanks for posting that. I'll snag that issue on my next trip to the bookstore. Those guys who do those articles in there aren't exactly amateurs by my definition of the term. There's some pretty fancy machining in that magazine. Great reading material...

...And even better ads that my wife forbids me to read because I'm basically a weak-willed gadget junky! :D