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Hello all, I was just gifted a bit of 1566 scrap of various diameters, all less than 18 inches in length. Unfortunately it is all case hardened. Can I anneal this to soften the hardening? I a newbie and don't have access to a heat treat oven. If I can anneal, a quick tutorial would be helpful. Thanks for any and all advice, wisdom, jokes, jabs, and cheap shots.

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 question mark. I put that in my bucket of vermiculite then i heated up the blade but tang more than blade to an orange heat and stuck it in my vermiculite with the other piece of steel. I also forged another blade out of some 01 and annealed that as well to make the grinding easier. I left it outside for about 5 hours and when i took it out of the vermiculite it was still warm enough to sting abit when held so i figured that it had annealed. I took the blade to the grinder and got it profiled and flat ground then went to go and drill in the holes. I have used the drill press and bits before to drill holes for knives and it worked out. I have never been able to get it to work on this damascus stuff though so i usually end up just punching the holes in hot. But i feel like im just not annealing the steel right and that must be my issue. So does anyone have any tips for getting damascus steel of that make up soft enough to drill through with titanium coated bits.

What do you think...? The Story I was given used/discard planer blades that I wanted to anneal and use as raw material for other items (e.g. little knife blades). They are M2 High Speed Steel. I have been reading a lot of information about using scrap steel from this and that--I really like the idea of repurposing material that would otherwise be thrown away. For example: It apparently use to be true that you could get saw blades from a mill and cut them up to make tools. After looking into the thermal treatment guidelines for M2 steel I think I would be better off buying an appropriate material. I am starting to think that the info I've read that questions the wisdom and economics of trying to use "unknown steels" may be more right than I had hoped. That trying to use "scrap" is likely to be a frustrating, often fruitless, and maybe even dangerous activity. I will appreciate your thoughts and experience with using discarded material -- especially as it relates to the Anchorage and The Valley regions of Alaska. ------------------------------------------ M2 High Speed Steel Thermal Treatments HEAT TREATING INSTRUCTIONS HARDENING Critical Temperature: Ac1: 1530°F (832°C) Ac3: 1610°F (877°C) Ar1: 1430°F (777°C) Ar3: 1380°F (749°C) Preheating: To minimize distortion and stresses in large or complex tools use a double preheat. Heat at a rate not exceeding 400°F per hour (222°C per hour) to 1100°F (593°C) equalize, then heat to 1450-1550°F (788-843°C). For normal tools, use only the second temperature range as a single preheating treatment. Austenitizing (High Heat): Heat rapidly from the preheat. For Cutting Tools: Furnace: 2200-2250°F (1204-1232°C) Salt: 2175-2225°F (1191-1218°C) To maximize toughness, use the lowest temperature. To maximize hot hardness, use the highest temperature. For punches, dies, and tools that require maximum toughness without hot hardness: Furnace: 2075-2175°F (1175-1191°C) Salt: 2050-2150°F (1121-1177°C) Quenching: Pressurized gas, warm oil, or salt. For pressurized gas, a rapid quench rate to below 1000°F (538°C) is critical to obtain the desired properties. For oil, quench until black, about 900°F (482°C), then cool in still air to 150 -125°F (66-51°C). For salt maintained at 1000-1100°F (538-593°C), equalize, then cool in still air to 150 -125°F (66-51°C). Tempering: Temper immediately after quenching. Typical tempering range is 1025-1050°F (552-566°C). Hold at temperature for 2 hours, then air cool to ambient temperature. Double tempering is required. For large cross sections, and especially for blanks from which tools will be cut by wire EDM, triple tempering is strongly recommended. ANNEALING Annealing must be performed after hot working and before re-hardening. Heat at a rate not exceeding 400°F per hour (222°C per hour) to 1525-1550°F (829-843°C), and hold at temperature for 1 hour per inch (25.4 mm) of thickness, 2 hours minimum. Then cool slowly with the furnace at a rate not exceeding 50°F per hour (28°C per hour) to 1000°F (538°C). Continue cooling to ambient temperature in the furnace or in air. The resultant hardness should be 248 HBW or lower.

So this is my first self-made knife. I was wondering, can I anneal the knife for a shorter amount of time if i don't have a lot of time and still be able to work with it? (Im making it from a file, or a thinner piece of household metal that anyone else can think of) I really appreciate everyone's help on this thread. Thank you.

I want to make a knife out of an old industrial file, but I need a furnace to anneal the steel. Should I just use a conventional oven? Or should I just use a charcoal grill and really crank up the heat? This will be my first knife. I know I am a newbie, but wanted to get started, hopefully, on the right foot.

Hey all, I have been on the site for a little while now and have read a few of the metallurgy books recommended on this site. I have tried to piece the heat treatment process together but I'm still having some trouble understanding. , As far as I am aware, normalizing and annealing reduce stresses caused by forging, additional heat treatments, etc. The differences between them seem to be annealing is done through heating to either at or slightly above critical temperature and then placing the metal in a temp-controlled substance, such as vermiculite, to slow the cooling process. Normalizing is essentially the same thing except the metal is brought to a temperature higher than annealing and the metal is then allowed to air-cool to room temperature. After hardening, tempering is used to reduce some of the brittleness caused by the quench by bringing the metal below critical temperature (for most medium carbon steels I seem to get answers in the brown-blue oxidizing region for this) and then quenching again to prevent additional heat build-up and start the hardening process over again. My first question is do I have my terminology correct? My second question is when is annealing more preferable to normalizing or does one try to use them both when forging, for instance, medium carbon steel? My last question is how many times should one try to use annealing or normalizing during forging? Some will recommend performing these during forging to prevent warping and to prevent cracking when quenching. However, as far as I understand, too many heatings weaken the metal by either decarbonizing it or allowing too much grain growth. I have a propane forge very similar to Larry Zoeller's metal bucket forge only I used an old propane tank instead. I apologize if there is any information I didn't think to put into my question and will add that information when needed.