Ed, I'm looking for some advice on heat treating stock-removal blades of 1075/nickel damascus. For me, time and temperature is not the issue; I have that information. It is the pure logistics of using a HT furnace to bring the foil-wrapped blades up to the proper heat, and then getting them out of the wrappers and into the oil quickly enough to get a proper quench. Even limiting HT to one blade, I'm still not sure I can pull it off, and I don't want to screw up a lot of work. Any ideas? Thanks!

Don,I think that you should leave off the foil.Bring it to temp. for the 1075 and quince it in oil.You will have to clean the blade after ,but that`s the way we do it.If you have any problems let me know at www washburnknives. Robert

I did the foil thing for a while. It was a real pain. I then got into japanese style blades with clay coatings. Actually, I still starting out with the clay, but I have found that a thin and uniform satanite coating on any blade is almost as good as the foil thing. Thank's, Fred ( jyblood@nwi.net ).

I use a mixture of borax and boiling water and dip the blades in....I use 1/3 borax in a container and fill the rest with water bring to a boil..dip blade in ...let dry then go about yer normal heattreatin....if done right when you quench in oil the protective borax cover will flake right off and leave you with a blade that looks similar to what you started with....and you won`t have to grind that stubborn scale off!!....works great!!

Thanks, guys. I may try it both ways and see which works out best for me. Any suggestions on where to get a small quantity of Satanite and borax (anhydrous, I presume)?

I just use 20 muleteam that you get at the grocery store.If you can`t find it let me know and I will send you some. Robert Washburn ABS Journeyman Smith

If you want, drop me an address and I will send you a bit to try. Thank's, Fred ( jyblood@nwi.net ).

Hi Don, I dont use anything to stop the scale from forming. I think you will find that 80% or more of the scale will usually blow off in the quenching medium. What is remaining is light and takes little effort to remove. The other ideas sounded good to me but I have never felt the need because it normally isn't an issue as far as being hard to remove. Experimentation leads to success.

I find that if I get the heat just right on carbon steels the scale will pop off.

The other day I heat treated a very small folder blade, L-6 and did not want to lose any thing to scale.

I coated the blade with Anti-seize Special (brand name) lubricant. The stuff is good to 2000d. No scale.

The anti seize is used for coating bolts and the like to prevent galling, it is a petroleum base with metal filler.

Guys, I really appreciate all of your suggestions. I think I will make a few 01 blades, and try them all. Which ever method works out the best for me, I'll use it on the damascus blades. Thanks again.

Don,
Since we're on the subject of heat treating, :D I have the long sides done for your rack(Finally, he saysLOL) but I didn't get any dimensions for the ends.your drawing shows round bar stock but this will be flat stock.just need to know the dim.
I will get this thing done I promise!!!! :) It isn't as pretty as the machinist could have made it but me and my 7" grinder are real good friends now. anyway if you can get me the dimension you want I'll try to get it finished ASAP
Mike Sader

Mike- You've got mail. Thanks very much for your help on this.

Don for what its worth I know what it like to have a well finished blade scaled up from heat treat. The way I do my carbon steel Damascus is I use the foil heat to 1550 deg-F soak for 15 min. then quench it in oil while still in the foil bag. This works for me ---------Try it Rade

Hey Don I thought of another option depending how involved you want to get and that is to use a high heat salt bath. The salt is an oxygen free enviroment so the only chance scale has to form is going to the oil quench. I know quite a few smiths who use this method especially to keep warpage down because it is a more thorough and even heat. Just a thought have fun.