Heat Treating Knives, Blades etc

Hello everybody. i just made a trip to a nice little event that was going on in town and found a relay nice sword i couldn't help but to buy. its colors just had me. i'm relay interested in how the process to get them is done. i wouldn't mind messing around with that process if it isn't all that complex. the process is supposedly called "spectrum treatment" and i'm not exactly how it works. but id aether have to say its quenching it in some special juice at just the right time or some special clear-coat that gives it the effect. if anybody knows anything about this process in detail please inform me more on it. here is a image of a finish product with the special spect…

Does anyone know what type of steel is generally used to make garden shears ? Been looking on the web and the only thing that came back on one web site was D2 steel. Anybody else like to hazard a guess ? shears bought in the UK BTW.

I finished forging my first seax-ish object out of coil spring yesterday. I know I'm supposed to anneal before i do any grinding to it, but I'm not sure how long it's supposed to take to anneal. I mixed some hot charcoal with some dirt and buried it in that after bringing it up to a bright orange. It was still hot to the touch about 45 minutes later, but i could handle it with gloves. Was this long enough, or should it have taken a lot longer? If this isn't good enough, what would be a good method? Also, once i do get it annealed and cleaned up, should i bring it to an edge before quenching, or would that be better after tempering? Thanks

im trying to aneal some 01 for a knife (already forged to shape just need to grind). but no matter haw long i make it take to cool it just keeps skating my files, i even had it cool with other hot pieces in the bucket of sand and even then it just skates. this last time when i tried when i pulled it out of the bucket it had curved considerably. im trying to finish this knife for a friend of mine who will be shipping to afgahnastan soon so please help!

Hi, I need a little help tempering my knife made from a 1095 file. I've seen unfinished knives with nice blue temper colour along the spine, heading down towards the edge is a purple leading into a brown to grey and full hardness on the cutting edge. I think that this temper method will work for knife but i have no idea how to use do it? Please, how do you temper a knife?

Hey guys, New bladesmith here. I am making some knives out of files so this is my planned heat treatment. Please critique. 1. anneal files 2. shape blade, bevel, and handle 3. re-anneal finish, formed blade (to relieve stresses formed during shaping and ginding) 4. triple normalize blade checking for flaws between each cycle. if flaws are present they will be fixed and the triple normalizing process repeated until no flaws are present through all three cycles. 5. heat to slightly over non-magnetic and quench in oil 6. temper 350 degrees f for 2 hours, 2 times with one day between cycles One other question -- if and when grain growth occurs is it reversed by an…

hey guys, and gals if there is any. Im a man of few words so here it goes, im in school right now(medical, not english and grammer lol) and they are remodeling a building, well there is TONS of scrap angle iron they are throwing away and its the perfect thickness for knives that i like, i cant forge up here due to living in an apartment. i cut my blades out and then shape with a grinder, my question is angle iron to soft for decent knives(i want a good sharp durable knife for camping) is there a way i can harden it? thanks

Hi guy I have been looking a local source for quench oil and so far all I'm coming up with Shell Voluta C400 and I wanted to see if any one has used this stuff and how they like it or don't here is a link to the data sheet My link I'm primarily working with 5160 and 1084 at the moment and I was thinking this stuff would work well for that. But really I'm just guessing and was hoping one of you smarter fellas who has some knowledge about quench oils could tell me more. thanks Lyman

i wanted to heat treat a dagger I made from a rasp, but i didn't have any clay. I used some refractory cement instead and it seemed to work all rite. I was wondering if anyone had done that before and if anyone could tell me how it works. thanks.

Im finishing up an axe made from a bal pein hammer but I'm not sure of the proper quench, is it ok to use water or is oil a better option? Sorry if this was asked before, could not find anything in the search. Thanks

Hi, I have a lot of O2 tool steel and I intend to make knives out of it and differentially harden them. I want to get a Hamon on it by coating it with clay in the Japanese style. Would it be possible to get a good hamon on O2 steel? Has anyone tried to differentially harden O2? If you have pictures of (differentially hardened) O2 knives or any information, it's welcome! Thanks, Louis

Hello everyone! Long time no post. .. I know the info is here somewhere, but haven't time to sift through everything to get to it. I will be quenching some long blades in oil. One is spring steel and one is mistery steel (just found it, made it into blade and even unquenched it seems to be flexible, but it WILL sty bent in I put all my weight on it) I experimented with some quenching on small sample pieces of steel so that's ok. My problem is TEMPERING. Please give me some advice on whether I need to temper each blade after quenching and how. All I have to work with is charcoal, blowers, random tools and a lot of yard space. How can I tell when I should pull it o…

hey guys just a quick one, i've finished shaping and sanding my first knife and am getting ready for my first harding attempt. i have read all the stickys and a xxxx of a lot of posts on this forum. the metal is/or was a old jackhammer tip of unknown metal type that i had to anneal to work and even then was pretty hard compared to a RR spike (the only carbon steel that i have really worked before). now i know i have to heat to non-magnetic (should be about cherry red) and my first quench im trying oil and that doesn't work i'll try water im planning to temper at 170c for 2 hours and depending on the hardness another for 1-2hrs at 200c. now heres my question do…

Hi, I have been making blades for some years and I try to get as close to the Japanese way of making knives and swords as possible. I differentially harden my blades to get a Hamon, and so far have always used water. However, I read a lot about people quenching in other liquids like oil and even brine. I know that some steels quench-harden better in oil, but I never really understood why. Does it have to do with heat distribution when the hot blade meets the liquid, the chemical composition of the liquid, the viscosity, or even how fast the temperature of the liquid itself rises??? So; which factors make up the choice for the appropriate liquid? will water-quench…

Howdy all. Well, I have successfully forged, ground, normalized, and quenched my first spear point out of 5160 steel. I put it in the oven for two hours at 400 F to relieve stress. Tomorrow I will do another temper cycle. The intended use of the spear is to kill a hog. I know that in that case toughness wins out over edge holding, as it really only needs to hold an edge for a couple kills and can be resharpened between hunts. What temperature would folks suggest for the final tempering cycle to maximize toughness/springiness yet maintain a decent edge? Mark

I have looked all over the net trying to find a recipe for refractory clay for blade smithing that will create the classic Hamon heat treated patterns that is found on most japanese swords and daggers. If you have any info pleasa let me know. Thanks again

I have a couple pieces of 1035 steel laying around and I was wondering what the best way to harden and temper them was. 1035, if I'm not mistaken, does not have a lot of carbon so I need something better than just an oil quench. I don't know anything about brine or super quench. Thanks, Andrew

I stumbled across this web page today and the HT described here is a bit different from other methods I've used/read about. They say that the cooling from 1500f to 900f should take 1-2 seconds (which is normal). The main difference is that it is recommended that the cooling from 900f to 125f should take about 15 minuets... Anyone HT this way? Does it really make for a better edge?

I was wondering if anyone has any experience working with A2. I recently acquired a nice sized piece of it from a machine shop. From what I understand, Chris Reeve and Phil Hartsfield both use A2 and it is used in combat knives. Can it be hardened in Vermiculite? I have a good reference for the forging temps, etc., but the cooling rate has me concerned. I have no idea how fast a piece loses it's heat in Vermiculite or in a forge that's been heated and then sealed up (standard propane forge, 2" of Kaowool coated with ITC-100 and fire-bricked on the ends would be all that I am capable of right now). I probably will not attempt to do anything with this piece of ste…

hey everybody, i'm new to the forum and new to the art of bladesmithing, although i have been a metal sculptor for many years. after reading many bits of info from many sources i'm confused. i'm trying to make a blade from an old file and i can't figure out the proper way to temper/heat treat it. do people use the oxide film color spectrum method (as one might use when blacksmithing a chisel for example) or is the best way to heat it in the oven. if using the oven method is any further quenching done? sorry for my ignorance, but you all seem to know whats up and any insight would be greatly appreciated. cheers! -J-

Again im entirely new to the craft. I have read so much on heat treating blades that it's just so hard to know which would work. I know some ways are of course better than others, but after speaking with a Bladesmith this is what I got, Will this method work... - Forge the blade - When blade is shaped, give it a heat until it's in a non-magnetic state then quench in motor oil - File the blade to what you want it to look like/finish it off - Put blade is kitchen oven on 375-400 degrees for 1 hour then let cool to room temp. - Clean blade with soap and water - Put back in kitchen oven for another hour on 375-400 degrees then let cool slowly to room temp. For a roug…

Hi guys, i have just heat treated a blade usibg a coating of clay thikest at the spine and was wondering if grinding will affect the hamon lines? any insight to this woulkd be greatly apperciated thanks in advance. Nav.

I was reading some posts and doing some research and I found when quenching in used motor oil that it emits carcinogens, which are hazardous to your health. I've been using a motor oil and diesel mixture for my blades for some time now, and have been exposed to these fumes sometimes. I was just wondering if anyone had any safer oil formulas that work well for quenching knives, I've heard of using quenchants such as vegatable oil, etc, but was afraid the oil too be to thin causing blades to crack. The steels I use are 1095,5160, and L-6 steel. Any advice would be appreciated on this matter.

I've read in quite a few places that for the most part older files are W-1 and newer files might not be... does this information sound correct? i forged a blade from an old file, never got it too hot during forging, normalized it, then annealed it, filed it/sanded it where it need, turned the lights off, brought it up to a cherry red, and quenched it in water.... it warped and cracked in a couple places. W-1 should be quenched in water right? i usually use vegetable oil for 10XX steel, should i have just used the oil, or maybe used hot or warm water? thanks for any tips.

This has probably been asked before, many times. I have some rake tines that are likely to be .9 carbon. I don't think they have anything else in them. They are probably from the 40's or before. I am making some simple wood carving knives out of them. I am heating to non=magnetic then quench in water. Then sharpen and the use a torch to temper to a dark blue. This method is working well enough. My question is with this type of steel will I be making an improvement with using a toaster oven to heat to 350F or so and also will I see a positive difference with the heat and cooling of the blade more than once? These are simple blades hand forged and small, about 3" lo…