Heat Treating Knives, Blades etc

Ok I have made around 13 knives and just made my first chef knife out of 1075. I shaped it put the bevels in and sanded it with 220 then 400. After it was smooth and most scratches were out I heated with my torch till non magnetic and quenched in oil. I then sanded the scale off and put in the oven at 500 for two hours. It came out this beautiful blue purple gray copper colors. I would like to leave it like that if it's possible, and just put the final edge on it after I pin and epoxy the handles on. I guess the question is would those colors hold up or would they rub off or would it be susseptable to rust?

I am using Rutland black furnace cement thinned with water to clay a blade. I will be using a few thin coats instead of a single thick coat. First attempt at claying. Can anyone suggest (approximately) how thick to apply it. I know I may have to experiment a little, but I'd like to have an idea where to start, I am interested in differential hardening, making a hamon is not an issue.

Ok so last year i got my hands on some damascus, there was some people here that warned me that it might be of inferior quality because of the price i got it for. Warned me to looks for delamination and the like. So i held off on using the stuff but last weekend i finally decided to give it a go, both so i could test the steel and so i could test out my new grinder. I forged it out and no delamination at all which of course makes me happy. I was told that the steel was 1080 and 15n20. So once i forged out the blade and tang to the shape i wanted i decided to anneal the blade. I heated up some kind of metal they use on train tracks, it big and heavy and looks like a q…

Hi ! I am new here and I am trying to get answers from internet without success... what oil should I use to quench 1084 and 1094 steel ( I am making hamons on the blade )

Hello everyone. I am new to blade smithing and a few weeks ago I have built a forge and bought a grinder and all the basic stuff I need. The blade is made from an old rr spike and I have basically finished the blade and I'm ready to quench. However I have quenched the blade twice in some old chain saw oil...the blade didn't harden....three times in motor oil....the blade didn't harden. Then I tried twice in water....the blade still didn't harden. I almost certain I brought the blade up to the proper temperature because it was glowing orange and it lost all magnetism. Despite all my attempts, the blade never hardened. I know that RR spikes have a very low carbon content, …

Sorry to jump on your convo but so we have to move it for you Can anyone help I have repro filed the end of my first hand made knife now I have lost the temper on my tip. Stick in wood last 5 - 6mm of tip/blade will slightly bend how can I re temper without burning handle off and starting again. As I made own micarta don't want to waste it

Hey guys, I'm a 15 year old who loves to build knives and my newest project is building a Katana like machete. The steel that Im using is tool steel, and I was wondering. Im using the classic clay + charcoal mix for the hamon clay and would I still to be able to polish the machete with jewelers Rouge? without killing the hamon lines after the quench and temper. Il will post pictures before the quench. And whats are the steps of making a hamon line? and idk if this matters but, I use bark for my forge fuel if this matters.

I'm looking for something that will give me a more consistent and even temper than my kitchen oven and thought I'd ask the knowledgable people here if a fryer would work. I have an old fry daddy type fryer and I'm thinking about seeing if it's any better. I have done some looking online and couldn't get a specific temp they run at just that they are 'the right temperature to fry most foods' and then it mentions that it's in the range of 350-375f. I am trying to find a thermometer that I can stick in the oil to get an accurate reading but thought I'd ask before I got to far ahead of myself. Most of what I do is 1084 or mystery steel (mostly for tooling) and is plenty small…

Hello I am new to this site and to knife making, I always wanted to make a knife by my self but i dont really have a way to forge metal so for my first knife I thought I will use an old circular saw blade and thats what I did and now comes the part of heat treating and tempering. I know I can temper it in the oven until straw color but i have some problems with heat treating, i made my self a little charcoal furnace out of an empty helium tank and a air mattress pump(I will include a pic), it gets hot enough to heat the blade really well but after quenching it in oil the blade its in really bad state, it was nice and smooth when i put it in and now it has like little vall…

Hello again i have been asked to forge some timber framing slicks. They are mild steel with a fire welded blade on the back. So I was wondering what temper colour or temperature I should camper the blade two, assuming it is and for oil quenching steel. And should I temper it in an oven to get the temper even throughout, since the blade will Where away, be sharpened and eventually get shorter? thoughts ethan

hey guys quick question when you do a cryo treatment i liquid nitrogen is there any pre cooling or anything like that or just dunk the blade in the liquid nitrogen, Alos i have heard people say to leave it in for 2 hours and some say over night????different steel different time? or just some people do it differently than others/ thanks guys!

Hey guys i am thnking about getting into new types of steel i really wanna do some stainless. BUT i am on a huge budget right now any one know where to get a cheap but decent HTing oven everything i can find is like 750- a few thousand i dont have that much right now. Even if any one is selling a used one as long as it works. if any one got any tips it would be apreciated!

Need oil

I came up with an idea, and before I execute it I was hoping for some opinion on it. basically, as an alternative to engraving a blade, I'd use temper colours to place letters on there. the idea I had was hardening the blade, then coating it in a clay which Id then scribe letters into-I'm thinking thin and well spaced lines, just in case. then running a blowtorch over until they're blue. as I think about it, I feel like I'd want a conductive layer on first to take heat out of the steel in blank areas, then an insulating layer to protect it from the torch. what do you guys think? can it work, and even look good? has anyone tried anything like this? …

Hello i am upgrading my 25" quench tank to a much bigger 50" tank. I have been using veggie oil with some atf to try to keep the flames down. I have had good results with this combo. I have broken a few blades and found a nice small crystalline structure. But going to the new tank I was thinking about upgrading to a actual proper quench oil. But before I buy 15 gallons of the stuff (not cheep). I was wondering what most folks are using here. I have looked at the stickies under sword, knife and heat treatment they usually just say oil. Now being I work in a refinery I have a little knowledge about oil (very little). The research I have done so far shows a wide sp…

Hey there I've been making some knives and I just heat treated and tempered them a few days ago, but I made a terrible mistake and used burnt motor oil, heavily staining my blades with oil. Has it ever happened to anyone before? And if so, is there a way to remove them without damaging my blades. I'm open to all suggestions and appreciate any advice given. Thanks

I was visiting the Smoky Mountain Knifeworks On Sevierville, TN. They have (or had) a resident Knifemaker available to help you make your own knife from either a horseshoe or a RR spike. I chose to make on from a RR spike. After heating and beating the basic shape, before going inside to grind it, the knifemaker sprinkled some powder, looked like powdered graphite on the blade and heated it once more and then quenched it. I have tried to contact him (James "Cody" Weaver, King James Knives) but he has dropped off the map. Can anyone tell me what that powder might have been? Was it supposed to increase the carbon on the surface of the blade maybe?

Hello, I am new to the forums and blade smithing as a whole, ⎌and I have a few questions. When I first started forging knives I was quenching them in used motor oil (which, from what I've read is horrible) and I have now switched over to canola oil. Was this a wise choice? Or is there another type of oil I should be using? (I don't have a lot of money for professional quenching oil and I'm currently working with junkyard metal like rebar, etc). I'm sure these questions have been beaten to death, but any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks!

I would like to quit using oil as a quench fluid for a variety of reasons: stink mess when somebody knocked the container over. I am using 1040, 1084, and 1095 and would like to change to water or brine. The work is generally knife blades, approximately 1 inch wide X 6 to 10 inches long X 1/4 inch thick at the spine. Question 1..... How much salt should I use to make the brine? Question 2..... Is there a simple rule of thumb how warm the quench should be?

Good day membersI am contemplating the purchase of a hand held temperature meter...what temperature do I have to be able to measure while forging knifes? What temperature range are we looking at?RegardsGert

Hi, I'm new to metal working as a hobby and am just getting started. I have a brake drum that I am planning on making into a forge, but that isn't something I can put together anytime soon; I know it isn't the best thing in the world but I am essentially starting from scratch. For the time being, I was curious if I could use my Weber charcoal grill to heat treat a kitchen knife that I plan to cut out of stock with a grinder, essentially following this Instructable. It seems to me that it should be fine to bring it up to sufficient temperature with a makeshift blower on the bottom to get the steel to 1500F without ruining said grill, but that could just be my inexperience.…

Hey guys. First let me say i have done some searches on this topic both on the web and on this forum. I found a lil but not much so if this is a question that has been answered please point me in the right direction. Ok that being said I am still new to heat treating in my propane forge. I have done much destructive and real world testing and i finally got it to where it is acceptable to me of corse i will always try to keep improving. How ever a problem that i still have is getting a even heat on the blade. I started grinding the blade and MOST of the bevel's but not all then heat treat then finish the bevels after. So then i started only profiling the knife and not doin…

Hey guys i am wondering if any one can help...i have been trying to PROPERLY heat treat 1080...i have read all the facts i understand the science behind it. i have some one (also on the computer so he cant come physically show me) helping me. i made 2 knifes first one too hard second too soft then i just cut off a couple pieces of steel to heat treat to avoid spending all the time making a blade to break. wich i will do again as a test once i get it right. the problem is i cant get the grain size small enough i ruled out the tempering process by just hardening and breaking at that point without the temper. the grain is small but what i was told is to break a old nicholson…

Dumb newbie question, looking for confirmation I made a 1/8" thick knife blade out of a leaf spring. After quenching in oil, I wanted a differential temper. So I heated a piece of leaf spring and put the back of the knife blade onto the hot steel. I was looking for the change in colors across the blade, but the entire knife blade turned dark charcoal grey immediately. I didn't see any color changes develop across the blade. Does this mean that the hot leaf spring was too hot to effect a controlled differential temper? Does this I mean I overheated the knife blade to ~700 degrees almost immediately? I don't want to do anything else with the knife b…

Hello there se have small problem we have a school project we are making soo big sword like a 140 cm long bleade and about 50 cm long handle or longer its forged from truck spring its oil quenching steel we have everithing but not that big forge where we can heat this long blade and my question its quenching quench or not somebody told me no somebody yes but is soo hard to do it what is your reasson for this topic every opinion i accept