1095 HT troubles

[Kevin R. Cashen]

Originally Posted by son_of_bluegras

So you're planning on living to be somewhere around 300?



ron

Good point! Perhaps I will just have it written on my tombstone and be done with it

[sdcb27]

Kevin,
Books and videos my friend, books and videos
Its some amazing to me that the most important ingrediant to knifemaking (imho Heat treat) has not had a serious video made as of yet worth much merit but one can find several ways to file a vine on a spine. Would it be like watching a video of someone reading stereo instructions, possibly but this is the hobby or profession we have choosen and would be worth it. Heck just a well made video of Yourself and maybe Tim at Ashkoshan would be a godsend.

[AcridSaint]

Well, I agree with Romey that an hour video of some heat treating talk would be worth while. I think it would be well received though. One well-known maker did a video that had a some "scientific" focus and some in-depth talk about "heat treating". Seemed to do OK with it, so I think there's a bit of market out there for a definitive reference.

[Gary Mulkey]

I agree. This to me is the most important ingredient in building a quality blade. One problem is that each different steel is unique in it's H/T requirements. Still a great idea!

Gary

[Woodchuck Forge]

Kevin, and all others participating in this thread. Great stuff. it is probably the first one I actually read from start to finish. HT is so important and the understanding of the process and reactions are critical. GREAT INFO IS BEING SHARED FREELY. (thanks for the modulus of elasticity plug)

[sdcb27]

I wasnt impying a "recipe" video what i ment by video or books , there already are alot of Metallurgy books that give specific recipe for heat treatment of different steels if one if willing to take the time to learn to read the charts and the information provided,everyone has a different way to HT shop to shop but the numbers and physics do not change no matter whose shop the book is in.
What I was implying is a indepth video or serious of videos taking the metallurgy and applying them to blades. Much like Kevin does in his lectures and seminars. Something to help us understand Veerhoven work, or even Bains work yet applied to bladesmithing that doesnt involve a torch and bearfat for quench

[Andrew Garrett]

I wonder if you could fully harden and then spring temper a 1095 blade followed by clay coating the spring tempered back and then requenching and tempering to desired edge hardness?

[AcridSaint]

You're going to lose your spring temper when you bring the knife up to critical. The clay acts as an insulator, keeping the blade warm at the spine, it doesn't block the heat.

[son_of_bluegras]

I would think the insulating clay would slow the heating of the spine when reheating the blade. But I have doubts it would slow the heating enough to protect the spring temper on the spine.

ron

[Woodchuck Forge]

Though the spine would not be totally protected, it will not be completely changed either. You will get something in between. When I requenched some of my W2 I could still see the other clay lines still well defined. I have had great luck full quenching then applying heat shield to the edge then blue backing the spine. The edge never got above 100f if that. I could still touch it when the back was bright blue to purple.

[AcridSaint]

The way I see it, heat transfer would fairly evenly heat your blade, coated or no, as long as you're ramping up and soaking long enough for the blade to equalize.

If you run the edge up to temp as fast as you can and then quench it, the spine would probably be somewhat protected, but you could do the same thing by torching the edge and keeping the spine uncoated. Actually, since the spine wouldn't be insulated, you'd probably have a better time keeping some temper in it that way, but it's not exactly an accurate way to heat treat a knife.

If you're not normalizing before the next quench, I'm sure you would see some activity from the previous one. I wouldn't think that it would hold a spring temper though.

I'm sure it's fun to play around with, but I'm more inclined to go the route of mastering the known techniques and then fooling around with new ones on my own. So, by the time I'm retired maybe I'll start cooking up new heat treating methods.

[Mike Krall]

Originally Posted by Gary Mulkey

When I was looking for quenching oils this winter I couldn't find the Parks but called a manufacturer of quenching oils and bought their fastest. I was told that it would work the same.

Thanks,

Gary

Gary,

What quench oil did you buy?

Mike