shosen Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 I am new to blacksmithing and have a question. Let say u want to make a knife for example. So u use 1050 and harden it but do not temper and it reaches a certain hardness. Now u go and make another knife from 1095, harden it and then temper it so it reaches the hardness of the 1050 knife. Will they perform the same? or will one perform better then the other? If so could someone please explain how and why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 No, the underlying material makes a difference in overall performance. For the most part, this is due to carbide precipitation. If that were not true, all industrial parts currently made from 1095 and tempered would instead be made of 1050. All swords, knives and razors would also be made of medium carbon steel instead of high carbon. You can make a very serviceable knife by casehardening a piece of mild steel and sharpening on only one bevel. Many of the knives made for the North American Indian trade were produced this way - but they will not perform like a high carbon blade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 By NOT tempering you have retained brittleness in the steel that can result in failure. Re-read about what tempering does to hardened steel to see its also relaxing the steel from the thermal shock of the hardening process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thingmaker3 Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 Shosen, go to the library and borrow a copy of "Tool Steel Simplified" by Palmer and Leurssen. They've got some of the best layman's explainations I've seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shosen Posted December 8, 2009 Author Share Posted December 8, 2009 Shosen, go to the library and borrow a copy of "Tool Steel Simplified" by Palmer and Leurssen. They've got some of the best layman's explainations I've seen." "By NOT tempering you have retained brittleness in the steel that can result in failure. Re-read about what tempering does to hardened steel to see its also relaxing the steel from the thermal shock of the hardening process." Will do! Thanks alot guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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