Heat Treating Knives, Blades etc

Hello I'm new to the whole knife making process and when I wached all the videos on knife making they always temper their knifes after quenching in an oven. And I currently don't have an oven and I wondered if its possible to temper a blade in a campfire forge and how hard would it be

hey guys so i got a 1080 and 15n20 blade i made and its time to heat treat...first how should i heat treat same as 1080 alone? also does the temper have to be done right away after hardening ....say i heat quench in canola oil tonight can i wait until tomorow to temper???THANKS

So I've already made a post about using spring steel for a makeshift anvil and welding spring steel. I got a lot of support and help! But I was wondering about heat treating spring steel. So I've heard from a couple different knife makers that spring steel is a pretty good material to make knives out of, but spring steel is already hardened (at least the spring steel I have). So I have a couple of questions: - If your making a knife out of spring steel that is hard enough to dull a drill bit but soft enough to have a file just barely dig into it, does it need to be hardened further? - If it does need to be hardened further, you would need to normalize it first r…

I've been working on my fist blade, and have gotten to a point where I need to quench and (not sure what the term is, soften it again slightly) But have no good way to quench, I was going to use Old Engine Oil but didn't want to risk my health, and didn't know of any other affordable ways to quench besides water as I have heard that can do damage to your blade.

I am forging a blade out of 5160. Roughed out the basic shape in propane forge, took it through 3 cycles of normalizing and then annealed overnight in vermiculite. Rookie mistake - noticed a bend in the blade after annealing and wondering best way to address it. Planning on re-heating in the forge and flattening it out. My intention is to take it through normalizing and annealing again after that - but my question is - Is this necessary to go through those steps again?

Using 1084 after quench tempered for 2 hours at 400 and blades turned blue. I didn't expect this and not sure if they are good or what to do next. Should I start over normalize, quench (harden) then temper? Of course this is new to me, only used salvaged springs and a sway bar before and that's just 3 knives. I've heard the term blue back but no experience with method or what it looks like. This is different correct?

I recently found a few old hatchet, axe blades in the garage of a house I bought 7 years ago. There are not OLD, but a little rusty and no handles. I have enjoyed metal working over the years. More so than woodworking and I need a new Zen hobby. Anyway, I want to try my hand at shaping, engraving and salt water etching with these things. I have seen some examples on youtube that are pretty nice. I took a file to them and they are definitely hardened. What would be the easiest way to anneal these heads so that they are easier to cut/engrave? They will be wall hangers if I am even lucky enough to get one of them there. I have a small outdoor firepit, but I just don`t know …

Steel is 80CRV2. I'm messing with my heat treat and have access to a Rockwell tester at work. Piece number 1 is a chunk of raw stock that I cut off, piece number 2 is a chunk that I normalised (10 minute soak @ 1600° ctb, 10 minute soak @ 1480° ctb, 10 minute soak @ 1250° ctb.) Piece number 3 was quenched in warm canola oil after normalizing then a 5 minute soak @ 1500°, piece number 4 was tempered twice after normalizing and quenching, first for one hour @ 375° second for one hour @ 400°. Piece #4 is right where I would expect it to be, around 59-60 HRC but piece #3 has me worried. I was expecting it to check around 64-65 HRC but it is barely checking harder then the pie…

What color should the blade be And how long should the blade stay in the oven if at 435°

Good Evening all and Happy Holidays... I have a concern regarding two 1095 blades I recently heat treated. I’ll give a little background on the process I performed so you get a more complete picture. Both blades are stock removal from 0.156” 1095. I attempted creating hamons on each blade using high temp furnace cement. After grinding the blades to shape, I normalized four cycles from non magnetic working the temps down to a very dull red almost black heat. Once cool to the touch, I applied the high temp furnace cement and let sit for nearly two days. For the quench, I used warmed canola, took the blade up to non-magnetic, let it sit for another ten seconds, a…

I`m new at quenching 1095.I tried this morning the blade was nonmagnetic after heating it in forge glowing red.After i quenched the magnet suck to blade .Does that mean blade is not hard.

Hello, so could someone help me get on the right path to properly quenching farrier rasps? I have lots of rasps from shoeing horses and if I forge a blade I can't consistently get it hard. What should I quench in at what temp? Thank you

H purchased blade blanks that are stamped Western USA one of each W49, W47, W45. The description from the seller said that they were from the Colorado plant before it closed. The description said that they were heat treated , but said nothing about tempered. How can i tell if the blades have been tempered without buying a Rockwell test kit?

Hi all , greetings from Argentina. I been doing some knives with 5160 and notice they're not able to hold a good edge. I believe it is because it's not a really hard steel , plus I have been tempering to straw yellow (I temper by color) . So the thing is I will be quenching a kitchen knife for my father tomorrow and I want to try not to temper (the edge at least) . The question is I'm I loosing some mechanical benefit besides toughness?

I have a knife I have been working on and just did a clay heat treat, but alas the blade warped and I didn't notice before it cooled down too much for me to do anything about it. I then heated it to critical temp. or just below it and left it to cool in the forge. Does anyone have any tips for softening a differentially hardened blade so that it won't crack in the next quench? A simple list of steps on annealing and normalizing to get the best result would be appreciated. PS. I used the search function on the forum but couldn't find anything specific. And I searched on Google but didn't find anything helpful either.

Please advise:confused: Like many people just starting out, I've been working with salvaged steel that I've been given or found along the way. Since I usually don't even know where the pieces came from or what they were used for, I don't know how to treat them. I think most of what I have came from old farm implements (spring steel or one sort or another). I know its guess work, but how would you folks suggest heat treating? I had one knife blade that wouldn't harden with oil, so I started the process over again, but this time using brine. It's being tempered as we speak. Is there a good order of quenching mediums to try? And will multiple hardening attempts wea…

I need to HT a D2 blade (2mm at the thickest) in a coal forge. I read that idealy, it needs to soak at 1020c for 1/2-1 hour. But It seems very hard to maintain steady temp for such a long time, and I assume carbon loss will be significant. How much "performance" (hardness? toughness?) do I lose, if I soak for only few minutes? What do you suggest?

As a very amateur wood turner, I find good tools very pricey. Tried making a scraper out of an old file. Came out OK. Made a paint can forge, using a MAP gas torch. Heated the file till non magnetic, quenched in chainsaw bar oil. [all i had on hand]. Then to the oven for 2 hours at 400. Its sharp, and cuts great, but a metal file scratches the surface, which I believe is a FAIL. Probably wont stay sharp for long. What can I do better to get it hard with basic tools and knowledge? I also have a piece of M2 precision ground flat bar that I would like to grind into a scraper. Is it possible to "blue" this steel, like cheap carbon steel cutters, or can I just grind …

I've spent quite a bit of time looking on the heat treating forum and on other forums on this sight. I can't figure out a general tempering time for a knife. I know a guy who used to make knives for TOPS Knives and he said that the knife i made would probably take anywhere from two to three hours to temper. I'll post a picture of the knife when i can find a picture of it. I also don't know what kind of steel the knife's made of. The steel came from an old style pitchfork and that's all i know about it.

I am building a salt bath furnace out of a ceramic kiln. It is a smaller one but will allow a15 inch tank. i have the lid and one k type thermocouple. question is I can’t seem to find any direction for connecting two thermocouples where one is for over heat of the kiln itself and one for the salt bath. any idea?

So I got this old half hatchet recently. It is marked "R. King Cast Steel Made in United States." A quick wire wheel de-rust, flatten the back a bit, new handle from a honey locust tree. Then filed the bevel. It filed very easily, too easily. Sharpened it up a bit on the stone, and tried it out. The edge rolled over pretty easily confirming my suspicions that the steel is too soft. Now, I've done a bit of blacksmithing recently (still a total newbie), and am wondering if it is worth pulling off the handle and re-heat treating this? Anyone have experience with this? I'd bring just the blade edge up to non-magnetic heat, then try oil quench first, then water quench if i…

Does anyone have experience using Rye Oil Quenching Oil? I can get this stuff for around 25 $ per gallon and it seems to be the easiest one I can obtain. It's written on the site: Rye Oil 32: As alternative again to Parks AAA Quenching oil, this is a medium to medium/fast quenching oil, it's the industrial choice of heat treaters for O1 (1.2510) tool steel. It works well with steels such as O1, O7, 8670, 1080 and 80CrV2. Rye Oil 50: An alternative to the famous Parks #50 this is a low viscosity oil that approaches water in speed but it has a more uniform, less severe quench minimising the risk of cracking! It works great with steels such as 1095 and Si…

Hey Y’all, I finally bit the bullet and am attempting a bigger knife. It’s a chopper forged from an old leaf spring. I’ve gotten profile finished and took the bevels basically from spine to edge. I’m preparing to quench and have to say I’m a little scared. I haven’t quenched anything this large and fear a warp/crack/catastrophic failure especially since I’ve already put a lot of time into it. I’m debating just and edge quench in vegetable oil after some thermo cycling, OR putting some satinite on the spine to keep it cool and do a full quench. Thoughts?

I didn't have any trouble with the first knife I made but the last several have all given me trouble when I go to try to drill the pin holes. My process is to forge the shape, bring it back up to a yellow heat and "normalize" it in vermiculite. The next day I do my basic shaping and try to drill the holes but I've thrashed several drill bits now on clearly hardened metal. I thought the normalization step would reduce the hardness of the metal to make it easier to drill. Am I doing it wrong? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Hey there everyone im getting into blacksmithing and at work i have a lifetume supply of 1 7/16 cable that i plan to use to forge with, my only issue is its used and gets covered in tar, is this something i have to soak in acetone or will the forge burn it out without creating a molten mess in my forge and adding any extra fire hazards? Thank you guys.