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I Forge Iron

0 1 tool steel question


novam1a

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26 minutes ago, Steve Sells said:

test them,  they should be fine unless they were straight razors; then you may want to re harden and temper at 325F

Where do you get that idea? Please site sources.

I guess this must be a misconception of mine. I had thought that the longer it was tempered for the softer it would get. is that not the case? now that i think of it, i don't know were i got that idea, it has just been something i have always assumed. :unsure: thanks for calling my bluff. Novam, disregard what i say and listen to Steve. he's the expert, i'm very much not.

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Think of it like cooking a steak. If you don't get the internal temperature above 140°F, it will never be any more done than rare. So, if you put the steak in a vacuum bag and immerse it in a circulating water bath held precisely at 140°F, you can keep it there all day long without it hitting mid-rare.

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Test them.  I've found with the steels I use and either my toaster oven or my Paragon, if I do three, 2 hour temper cycles I can use a lower temp and still maintain flexibility.  I don't KNOW that you've softened them, but they would be suspect until tested.  The brass rod test will tell you more than any rockwell tester, and a cheap Radio Shack pocket microscope to inspect the edge is handy as well.

I don't necessarily think it's the temperature and time alone that is the issue, more likely the cycling of the oven.  In my toaster oven I have a 3/8" thick chunk of plate to hold heat and even out the temp swings.  Both it and my Paragon run full blast until set temp is reached, then cycles on and off at full power to maintain the temp.  Neither oven is perfect about maintaining temp, both rise and fall a little, and that may be what's causing the blades to be softer the longer they are in the oven.

Long winded way of saying, sharpen and test, if the edge stays flexed during the brass rod test, you need to re harden.  If it chips, raise your tempering temp a bit and re test.  Also, if you have a fairly thin edge to start with, you might want to take a little off before testing as the thin section gets hotter quicker and may have tempered more.

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2 hours ago, will52100 said:

  I do that anyway on every one even if I'm 100% sure of the heat treat.                                                                                                                                                     

Good boy!.....Likewise!;)

 

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