vaporlock Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Hi All, I forged my third knife last weekend. First time i used XC90. Pretty happy with the forging result, However , I think i made a mistake finishing the bevel before tempering . Somehow the bevel cracked . Could also be insufficient heating before selective quenching I imagine it could have been avoided if I would have tempered it straight after quenching. In which case I could have tempered at a lower temperature. Any thoughts? Vaporlock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 After forging and before grinding, filing, sanding, hardening and tempering, etc, Did you normalize it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaporlock Posted November 15, 2014 Author Share Posted November 15, 2014 Hi Dodge, yes, normalised it for about an hour and a half right after forging. vaporlock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccustomknives Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 I looked up this steel to see what it was made of. Looks like 1095, just really high in manganese. What did you quench it in? Did you use a magnet to determine the proper quenching heat? If you quenched in water, this will cause it to crack. If you over heated before quenching, this too can cause cracking. This doesn't account for any mistakes in the forging of the blade where cracking may have occurred (forging too cold). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 I always advise to temper ASAP after quenching. sorry ya lost a blade by not doing it :( I had a nice 16 inch fencing off-hand dagger turn into (3) 1.5 inch boot knives from the same thing, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swords9023 Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 Tough break man...(get it? huh? I'll leave) I think most of us have been there. One of my first hand blades cracked the same way. I didn't temper it after quenching. I always temper after a quench before I do any additional work. Haven't had a crack since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaporlock Posted November 21, 2014 Author Share Posted November 21, 2014 Hi All, Yeah, I think it was a case of overheating before quenching, possibly forging too cold. quenching (selective) was done in veg oil . Thanks all for the comments, It gives me a few things to look at when trying to make the same without the crack :-) Vaporlock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homeshow Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 Steve is correct from quench Directly into the toaster (tempering) oven is how I do it. Also did you quench in warm (160-180f) oil? I always quench in warm oil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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