Got a couple new bars of 1095 from NJSB. I heat treated two blades yesterday. Heated to 1475? and quenched in 130?-140? canola. After quenching, I ran a file along the edge and it seemed to bite a bit. Then I tempered at 425? for two hours.
So before doing anything, I sharpened the edge and rolled it across brass. The fine edge bent.
So I scratch my head. I've had good results with this process on some of my early blades but have been using 1084 recently.
Today I used my electronic meat thermometer that I know is accurate. I found my dial thermometer I used was off by about 40? or so. That means my quench oil was in the neighborhood of 175? and my tempering oven was too hot. Okay, so there's my problem.
So I redo today, heat the two blades to 1475? for 10 minutes, quench first in canola @ 130? then I quench the second one. The second one, the smaller of the two blades, the file bites into. I check the oil and apparently the first blade heated it to over 150?. So I allow the oil to cool, reheat the blade to 1475? and quench @ 135?. I temper both of them a bit lower at 380?-385?.
This evening I sharpened an edge and did the brass rod test. The very edge bent on the smaller blade. If you look in the picture, you can see the rolled edge as shiny.
I have no answers, and realize this is a lot of info. Any means of salvaging this blade? Any ideas of what's happening?
