HT Question

Thanks to everyone for their help and patience.

My question is this:

When I heat my 0-1 blade with a propane torch, I figure that I'll need to hang the blade. If I get two fire-resistant bricks and place them side-by-side, what kind of metal rod can I use to hang the blade from?

Thanks for your help.

-Pete

Gaijin,

Unless you have a propane torch that has an oxygen supply I don't believe that you can get your blade hot enough with it to heat treat. O1 has a critical temp. of 1370 and needs to be brought to 1450-1500 degrees before quenching.

You won't necessarily need to hang the blade to heat it. Hand onto the tang with some long handled tongs or pliers. If you don't get the entire tang hot it won't matter.

Gary Mulkey

If you were to get a few more fire bricks, you could build a small forge with them and then your propane torch will do the trick. Just make the compartment small and leave just enough of an opening in the front to stick your blade in. I have done this and it will work.

Gary is correct if you just try to heat it up with the torch. I also agree that you can just hang on to it with pliers or other type of tongs or whatever you have. Just be careful the heat will travel up the steel and pliers can get hot fast.