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Ed Caffrey's Workshop Talk to Ed Caffrey ... The Montana Bladesmith! Tips, tricks and more from an ABS Mastersmith.

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  #1  
Old 12-18-2000, 11:33 AM
Jones Knives
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52100 forging temperatures


Ed,

What temperature range should 52100 steel be forged at?


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Old 12-18-2000, 05:58 PM
Ed Caffrey
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Hi Phillip!
Welcome back to the CKD forums!
Most of the published data on 52100 recommends a forging range of 1700-2200F.
I think that is too high for this steel. I personally don't like to forge it much above critical temp. And even then I will start out with the highest heats, usually a light orange to dark yellow, and then reduce the heats throughout the forging process until I wind up in the med red ranges to finsh the blade. 52100 is one material that does not forgive overheating. The sad thing about it, is that you won't know until you test cut with the blade, and discover it doesn't cut worth a darn. There are no outward signs that you've overheated it, until then, and by that time you have a finished blade. Sorta stinks, but that's how 52100 is.

Take Care for now!
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Old 12-18-2000, 08:49 PM
Jones Knives
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Thanks, Ed. That's what I wanted to hear.
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Old 12-26-2000, 12:44 PM
goshawks
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My two cents for what it's worth.
What I have found is trying to guess a temp. by color
is really difficult!!!!! It will depend on several
factors ie.. cloudy or bright sunlight, how much light
gets into your forging area, is there artificial light
also present in the shop? etc etc
The best way I have found is to only heat 52100 up to
the point where it will move under the hammer. It is
going to make a difference how thick the steel is also.
If it quite thick the temp. on the inside will be different
than on the outside. I have found that by heating the steel
up on the out side to a red and then quenching it in oil
it will drive the heat to the center faster and will heat
the whole piece more evenly. By doing a quick quench like
this it doesn't seem to effect the steel negitivly. During
forging if I feel I may have overheated the steel somewhat
I will quench the steel in oil again. I used to think that
overheating would absolutely kill the chances of having a
good blade in the end, but have changed my mind on that after a lot of experimenting. The annealing stages if done
properly will save alot. If the steel is overheated and forged very thin there seems to be no saving in this case,
but if a good amount of carbon has been retained in a thicker piece the annealing stages that I use will bring it
back. The real solution is to not forge the steel too hot
or too thin to begin with.
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blade, forge, forging, knife


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