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First Time Heat Treating a Knife, Please help


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Just got a large, tanto, bushcraft knife forged to shape, made out of 5160. And I'm almost done with the rough grinding. So up next is heat treating.

 I've read The Complete Bladesmith: Forging Your Way To Perfection, and The $50 knife shop. So I've got the general method down for carbon steels I think. I hope.

 

#1: Normalize the blade by bringing it up to non-magnetic, and than letting it air cool in still air. Do this three times to relieve stress.

#2: Heat your oil to some where between 90-140 degrees Fahrenheit ( really don't have any idea why, just doing it). Heat your knife blade slowly and evenly to non-magnetic, once there quench the blade in the oil. Let sit until the oil stops agitating.

#3: Temper your blade by heating the oven from anywhere from 350-450 degrees Fahrenheit (what temperature depends on what you would rather have more, edge holding or toughness). Place blade in oven, leave it there for an hour. Pull out and let cool to room temperature. Do this three times.

 

So... Do I have it right? I just want to make sure, because I've spent a lot of time on this knife, and don't want it to go wrong. The only other thing I've heat treated before was a rail road spike tomahawk. It was kinda "eh". Now I have some steel that I know what it is, and have forged it out. Just want to make sure I'm going to do the heat treatment right.

 Please help.

 Thanks!

 

P.S. Why am I supposed to heat the oil?

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1776, it looks like you have a pretty good handle on it, but you can read through Steve Sells' pinned topic for a final review and a little deeper understanding.

I don't believe he mentions in there the purpose for heating the oil.  The short answer is it quenches faster if it's hot.  The longer answer is something like this: the viscosity of oil changes with temperature.  When we quench we want as much of the quenchant as possible to be in contact with the blade.  If the oil is cold you'll create a vapor pocket next to the blade that the cool oil will take longer to displace.  You'll still get a vapor pocket next to the blade with warmer oil, but since it can flow faster when warm it will displace the vapor more quickly and actually bring the steel temperature down faster than if the oil were cool - at least that's my understanding. 

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Buzzkill, I think I have the same understanding that I do. 

1776, You may still have failure or warpage. it's part of the game. We don't know the specifics of your blade as far as hammer technique and such. if you want real opinions Post pictures of what you have. quality pictures.  people here want to help others. but we need to know specifics. I will say I'm no knife maker but I have researched and have seen enough posts to say that we need to see more. what Kind of oil are you using? How thick is the blade? how long is the blade? How "rough" is the grinding? How thin is the edge? what is the size of the oil container you are using?.......................................................................

what I am getting at is If you want advice, Please be specific. The veteran knife makers here are awesome, but #1 you have to do some research, #2 be specific.

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Thanks guys. Just wanted to make sure I was going to be doing the process the right way.  Wanted all of you to reassure me. :P

 Almost got the rough grinding done, so I should be heat treating soon. Wish me luck! I'll be sure to post pictures once I've got it done. It should end up like this, if I do everything right.

 Thanks again for the help!

PHOTO removed please post only your own work here

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1776, I saw the pic before it was removed.  That blade was made by one of our forum members here - Stormcrow.  I can't speak for him, but it would have been better to ask his permission before posting his work.  He may be (or may have been) willing to give you some pointers if you were to ask. FWIW you did pick a good blade to try to emulate though.  I just hope it's for personal use and not for sale if you're basically copying another smith's work - at least not without his permission.

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5 hours ago, Buzzkill said:

1776, I saw the pic before it was removed.  That blade was made by one of our forum members here - Stormcrow.  I can't speak for him, but it would have been better to ask his permission before posting his work.  He may be (or may have been) willing to give you some pointers if you were to ask. FWIW you did pick a good blade to try to emulate though.  I just hope it's for personal use and not for sale if you're basically copying another smith's work - at least not without his permission.

I see. I didn't know I couldn't post pictures of anything but my own work. Sorry.

 Yeah, I'm not selling this one. This is my bushcraft knife. I'm not good enough to sell knives anyways. Not yet...

 But yeah, I thought Stormcrows work is awesome. He really inspired me. I vote his knives hands down most awesome blades I've seen yet!

 Once again, sorry. I didn't mean to violate the forum laws. Didn't know. Sorry.

16 hours ago, wonkydog said:

if you need any help I'm near by in Hayden ID

 

Thanks man! I may take you up on this generous offer if get stumped. Thanks!

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31 minutes ago, Steve Sells said:

Not so much forum law, as just common curtsey to get permission from the owner .  also it by posting in a place like this people assume it is your work.

Okay. Sorry, I didn't know. I just messaged Stomrcrow asking for his permission.

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Good deal.  At the very least if you are posting a picture of work done by someone else make sure you specify that it isn't something you did and give credit to the creator to help avoid confusion.   I'm looking forward to seeing your finished blade.

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13 minutes ago, Buzzkill said:

Good deal.  At the very least if you are posting a picture of work done by someone else make sure you specify that it isn't something you did and give credit to the creator to help avoid confusion.   I'm looking forward to seeing your finished blade.

Thanks. I'll make sure to follow your advice. 

 I'm looking forward to seeing my first finished knife too. ;)

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1 hour ago, Steve Sells said:

Not so much forum law, as just common curtsey to get permission from the owner .  also it by posting in a place like this people assume it is your work.

Steve: Will you PLEASE post a picture of you doing a "common CURTSEY?" Brother you travel in a WAY different crowd. Or should I say tu TU different? I didn't know you were that typo guy!  :lol:

About the faux pas posting another person's picture. In this case it is a courtesy issue but it can end with you in court. Different places and situations different rules. Here it's just not polite but say you'd chosen a pic of a blade in a magazine, posted it here and didn't give credit? You could be found liable for fraud.

Sure, we're usually a more easy going bunch but you can't count on everybody cutting you slack, especially if they're paying the bills with their work. This is kind of like a cocktail party of like minded folk who almost never get the chance to shake hands, or curtsey in person.

I'm not trying to beat you up about it but it's a real world thing. If you use someone else's work, words, etc. as part of your's you need to give them credit if for nothing more than courtesy.

Frosty The Lucky.

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In the Reenactment world it's become overly common for workshops in foreign countries to take photos posted of high level work done in the USA or Europe or the UK  and post them as their own or trying to sell their, often shoddy, copies.  This disinclines the really good people from showing off their work and we all suffer for it!   

I remember StormCrow/RainyRaven from when he was just getting started and I feel privileged to be able to see the calibre of his work today.

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