new guy with a 1095 question

[trclements]

I am starting my fist knife and I ordered a piece of 1095 HR steel from admiral steel. I will just be doing the stock removal method. I know when I heat treat it to harden it I need to heat it up to the point that a magnet won't stick to it. I don't have a forge but my dad is a gold smith by trade and has a small kiln that get up to about 2000 degrees F. I wasn't sure if that wlll get hot enough to be ready to quench it in warm oil. What is the exact temp of the non magnetic state of 1095 steel? If this won't be hot enough is there a good cheap way to build a sufficient forge to do this? Also will I need to normalize the steel before I can cut it to shape and put a edge on it? if so what is the best way to do that?

Thanks for your help I have been reading a lot of old post on here but couldn't find these answers.

Trevor

[Doug Lester]

Yes you can use a kiln to heat treat knives. I take it that it has a thermocouple to regulate the temperature. Bring the kiln up to temperature, I'd say1450-1500 degrees would do well. That will be high enough to austinize the steel without have to worry about grain growth a lot in the thinner sections. You can also use a torch to heat the blade with. From the sound of your question, I'm thinking that you are a little light in the book learn'n department, as far as knife making goes. Let me recommend "The $50 Knife Shop" and "The Wonder of Knife Making", both by Wayne Goddard. It helps us to help you if you at least find out what you don't know and could possibly help you not to make some expensive mistakes.

Doug Lester

[wolf9416]

Welcome to the forums,pard. Some good advice there from Doug for sure.Also, be sure to use a heated oi to quench it in.That 1095 will crack quicker than dawn with a hangover.I use canola oil, but the "experts" will thtrow rocks at me for saying that.Plenty of people here be glad to help you.Have a good one...T-Wolf

[Kevin R. Cashen]

The non magnetic point for any steel is around 1414F, yet each alloy will respond best to its own specific hardening temperature. As has been given 1475F-1500F is the range to use for 1095. It was a very good move to ask these questions first since the temperature you were thinking of would have destroyed your blade in the quench, - grain growth, cracking, warping and decarburization. 2000F would only be advisable for certain forging operations of 1095. If you have a kiln available you already have a better heat source that most at this stage so I really wouldn?t bother with the forge unless you want to do some forging. The single most important factor in heat treating, particularly a steel like 1095, is good accurate control of the heat thus your kiln is about as good as it is going to get. Heat the blade to 1475F and hold for at least 5 minutes (if the temp is 1475F a little longer won?t hurt) and then quench into your pre-warmed oil (130F is a nice temp) and quickly yet gently keep the blade moving under the surface, edge to spine or tip to tang, but not side to side with the flats. Temper at around 400F. for a really good edge holder and light slicer, a little hotter for anything that may chop.
Based upon the direction you are going and what you currently have to work with, I would strongly encourage you to go with ?The Wonders of Knifemaking? over the other book if you decide to get one of the mentioned books. The other may take you backwards from where you currently are at.

[trclements]

Thanks for all of your guys help. Keep the suggestions coming. So I have been doing some more reading on normalizing and if i understand it correctly most people suggest to normalize the blade 3 times after the blade is mostly shaped and before heat treating. To do it I would heat the blade up to 1450-1500 degrees then let it air cool all the way down to room temp and then do that again. Is that correct?

[Wade Holloway]

Yep, sounds like you are headed in the right direction. You may not know it, but you just got some great advice from some of the best folks. Good luck with your project and be sure to post some pics when your done.

[trclements]

I have always wanted to build my own knife so I did. I finished it last week here are the pics. It is 1095 steel with tulipwood handle and mosaic pins. 7.5 inches long with a 3.5 inch blade.

Here is how I built it: First I did a lot of reading on this forum and also on knifenetwork. So I bought a 2"x36"x 5/32" piece of 1095 steel from admiral steel online for about $35 with shipping. Then I cut a 8 in piece off with a steel cutting blade in my hand circular saw. I then put it in a kiln (my dad has it for doing lost wax jewelry casting) and heated it up to 1450 degrees and let it slowly cool down inside the kiln for about 8 hours. This was to make the steel soft enough to work. Then i finished cutting out the general shape with the circular saw and then using my little table top belt sander I formed the outline of the blade and then ground the edge with the belt sander. after all of this I sanded it down to 220 grit and then it was ready for the heat treatment. I heated it up to 1300 degrees and then pulled it out and let it cool down to room temp. I did this 3 times in a row to normalize the steel and try to make the grain of the steel smaller. I then heated it up to 1475 degrees and let it soak at that temp for 10 minutes. With tongs I pulled it out and as fast as i possibly could i dunked the edge into 135 degree canola oil and then after 8 second I dunked the entire blade and let it cool down in the oil till it was cool enough to handle. Then I tempered it in my oven for an hour at 425 degrees. I cleaned up the blade and sanded it down to 600 grit. I then put the brass on it and the tulipwood handle with mosaic pins that I made. Let me know what you think, this is my first knife that I have ever made. It isn't perfect but I think it will do the job on an elk or two.

Trevor

Thanks for all your help!

I posted the pics over in the display case forum.

[WBE]

Sounds pretty good, but you would have just a tad more strength had you dunked the whole blade all at once, then soft backed the spine with a torch. Just a minor thing though. I think you did very well overall. It is refreshing to see that a beginner has enough interest to research, and ask questions before leaping in. Listen well to Kevin and Mete'. They know what they are talking about.