hardened steel, how

[hammerhandsyd]

hi guys and gals, i was wondering how i could harden my mild steel cause i want to make some knifes out of low carbon and the get em nice high carbon without touching the metal with a hammer
any hints methods info?

[Teachingclay]

you cant unless you have the carbon immulsion and know how to do case hardenning. you cant harden mild steel because there isnt enough carbon.

[Rich Hale]

There is a blueprint by Quenchcrack that may be of value to you. I believe it is bp0078

[ThomasPowers]

Why not make them from anneald high carbon steel---very soft--- and then heat treat them to be hard and tough? Hardness is not totally based on the ammount of carbon in the steel; but on the heat treat of it. I could take A36 and make a chisel that would cut annealed tool steels.

[hammerhandsyd]

thanks rich ill take peek at that print but thomas how do i treat the steel to get it hard ness back, quench it or would that jus crap the metal?

[ThomasPowers]

True mild steel doesn't harden by quenching; it doesn't have enough carbon in it. You could try to make blister steel from it by heating it in a sealed pipe full of powdered charcoal, the real stuff not briquettes, heat it to a nice cherry red for 6 hours or so and then take out clean up---trying not to grind through the case and then heat and wuench and temper.

Why not make them from a carbon steel to start with? Makes heat treat so much simplier?

[hammerhandsyd]

im thinkin that the carbon conntent of my knifes is gona be high, tohigh for file sharpen and its also gona have some funky shapes and curls

[ThomasPowers]

Please *read* my posts; I have said that you can take very high carbon steel and make it quite soft by annealing---the carbon content has very little to do with how hard it is without factoring in the heat treat.

For example I can take a 50 point steel and harden it so hard it will cut an 150 point steel if the 150 point steel isn't hardened to the same degree---even though the 150 point steel has 3 times the carbon in it!

If you start with low carbon steel you end up with low carbon steel (unless you do very expensive and esoteric processes on it to increase the carbon content). Low carbon steel will not produce a good edge no matter how you heat or quench it. So what steel are you planning to start with?

If you cannot understand how this works you will be a lot happier *not* making knives until you do understand.

[hammerhandsyd]

thomas i do read your posts, u gota under stand that 50 piont carbon means squat to me, im a newbie and i have very little knowledge of smithing terms, im making spike knifes and spear heads for a com, the guy wants em hard and to hold edges while shearing bronze. i know thr amount of carbon in steel dose not determin how hard the metal is, it (i think) means how hard it can get. i dont wanna peev you and i aint gona argue cause im a neophite.
syd

[Justin Caradoc]

He is talking about medium carbon steel. Ask your local steel suplier and they will know what you are talking about. What are you planning to cut with them? what is com? do you meen con as in convention?