First knife

[vander]

I bit the bullet and ordered some 1095 to build my first knife. Is there a chance of me being able to heat treat and temper this myself, or should i send it off somewhere. This summer ill have a lot of resourses such as torches and all, and could most likely make a small forge for heating. anyways if i were to send it off, where and what would that cost??

[Recurve]

If you're gonna use 1095 then I'd say go ahead and HT yourself. Not only is it a confidence builder it is just plain FUN! Use light oil on the first few and then move up to brine and work on your hamon. You're hooked so enjoy it! -Jim-


www.shullhandforgedknives.com

[Doug Lester]

I'd second the idea of heat treating it yourself, it's not all that hard to do. Some pointers get your quenchant, forge, and oven up to temperature before starting because you will need to move quickly between the steps. I don't know if you are using gas or solid fuel but here is how I do it with my gas forge. I run the forge wide open until it is thoroughly hot and then I turn the gas and air back until the inside of the forge is red instead of orange. I put the blade into the forge and move it around a bit to help prevent hot spots from forming. I keep a close watch on the blade, and as soon as it goes non-magnetic, I return it to the forge to soak for about one minute then straight into the quenchant. I hold it there for about a half minute, pull it out, wipe the excess oil from the steel and go directly into the preheated oven. For 1095, I would recommend starting at 400 degrees AS MEASURED BY A THERMOMETER. I do three tempering cycles of two hours each.

You can use water, brine, or a light oil to quench in. I've had success with both vegetable oil and brine but brine is a little harsh and my break the blade but oil may not harden well enough. I recommend starting out with oil though. Just run a file across the edge or spine of the blade when you take it from the quench. If the file skids across the steel then it hardened adiquately. If the file bites into the steel then you didn't achieve hardness.

It is also a good idea to normalize the steel after you're done forging. Again three cycles are recommended. Just heat the blade as for hardening but,instead of quenching, just let it air cool between cycles. Normalization decreases the stress in the steel caused by forging by allowing the steel crystals to reform. Multiple cycles helps correct any grain growth that may have occured.

Any more questions just ask.

Doug Lester

[vander]

Well thanks for the outline! real good info, I didnt plan on fordging though. Probably just cut it out slowly and then grind/file my bevels ect... if i do this without heating the blade up do i need to normalize it still? sorry for the rookie questions...

[Doug Lester]

Normalizing will relieve any stress that occured while grinding. It can also correct for any grain growth that occured at the mill. Others who do stock removal may disagree but I know that some have posted that they do normalize after grinding, so it wouldn't hurt. I would rough grind to about 220 grit, normalize, heat treat, then do the final grinding.

If the steel seems to be a little hard to grind or is advertised as tempered, I would do at least one cycle before starting to work with it so that it's a little softer. (You know, I'm still trying to get my head around the concept of "soft" steel or refering to 1000 degrees as being "cool". I guess it's all relative.)

Doug Lester

[vander]

Ok that makes sense. I cruised around the site a lil more today and Im starting to understand what actually happens to the steel when heat treated... pretty neat. I have come up with one more ? though. I re-read your previous post and Wonder how long would I have to get the blade from being quenched to in the oven for tempering? after reading it again im assuming that it needs to be pretty fast.
Thanks a bunch Vance

[Recurve]

The sooner the better. I generally remove from quench when cool enough to hold with bare hands, run a new 3 corner file over the cutting edge to check for hardness wipe it down with a piece of 120 grit paper so I can see my temper colors, and stick it in the oven. 2-3 min. tops a good med. straw color is what I usually look for. A good trade between hardness and toughness. -Jim-

www.shullhandforgedknives.com