Simon Weedman

Hi Steve. The process for the forging of the new bought stock 5160 was as follows. Forged and then allowed to cool. The Normalizing was done above non magnetic. Normalised again at just on non magnetic and then again at just below non magnetic. All of the above in a Temp congrolled Kiln. The quenching was done once the blade was heated to 843°C and then quenched in oil. The shadows had all gone and the transformation phase had occured before the quench. The time from Kiln to oil was less than 1.5 seconds. I don't know what oil it was but I do know it was a fast quench oil as I did ask. The blade was then annealed after hardening at 600, 400 and 250°C in the Kiln. I have been making knives now for about 2 months and therefore don' know all the terminology and I did get the normalising and annealing mixed up. My error. The blade was file tested and it was extremely soft. I had enough steel to remove a piece with a grinder and then snap it which allowed me to look at the grain through a HP Loop. The grain was visibly minute but yet still soft. Is there any further information you need.

There weren't sparks even while forging. It is a gas forge. I believe it was normalised three times not annealed, I got that wrong. Im new to this. It was then heat treated. There was some scale during forging but not copious amounts.

Hi. The 5160 was a new piece of steel. The steel was forged first and then allowed to cool. The annealing was done in a temp controlled Kiln and allowed to cool down for 24 hours during each annealing cycle in the closed Kiln. Each annealing cycle was brought down in temperature over a week period for all three cycles which were in a closed Kiln. The heat treat was done at a temperature of 840°C for about 15 to 20 minutes and then quenched in a proper quenching oil. The person who did it is a South African guild member and explained to me that we had burned the steel in the forge. When I asked if it could be recovered he said he wasn't sure. As this was my 1st forged knife I wasn't too happy with the answer as he had done so many before. I started investigating who h is why I asked for help from anyone. Thank you again for the response.

Hi All. I RECENTLY forged a blade from 5160. The blade was annealed 3 times and then heated to 840°c for about 15 min. It was then quenched. For some reason the blade did not harden at all. The grain structure appears to be brittle. I spoke to the blade Smith who is teteaching me and he said that we may have cooked the steel. Is there any way to sort this out or should I bin it.. any advice is welcome.