1084 heat treat

[lamepro]

just got some of aldo's 1084 and wanted to know how to heat treat it. i was unsure if i should quench in water or oil? any help would be much appreciated

 

[Wade Jones]

2 pages that were immensely helpful to me for heat treating 1084:

http://www.cashenblades.com/info/steel/1084.html
and
http://www.fredeenblades.com/metallurgyheattreatment.htm

 

[Splat]

Thanks for those links, Wade! :thumbup:

 

[lamepro]

so since my steel is 1/4" stock and will be drawn out i should oil quench?

 

[RicardoMagnificent]

IMHO 10xx steels should all be oil quenched. This is based on everything I've read on the subject and my experience and the experience of a friend who does blacksmithing and knife making.

 

[lamepro]

thanks! what kind of oil should i use? (preferably something that is easy to get)

 

[RicardoMagnificent]

Canola oil works well for me. People use used motor oil, transmission fluid parrafin, any vegtable oil, or a combination of these. I cleaned out the basement a few months ago and put 1/2 qt. of transmission fluid and 80 wt. gearbox oil in with the canola. Flairs up a little, then goes right out.

 

[Kevin R. Cashen]

2 pages that were immensely helpful to me for heat treating 1084:

http://www.cashenblades.com/info/steel/1084.html
and
http://www.fredeenblades.com/metallurgyheattreatment.htm

WOW, Thanks for posting that Wade, the top link I was obviously very familiar with, but the bottom one I was not, despite 3/4 of it being VERY familair... incredibly familiar! ... hmmmm...

 

[Nathan the Machinist]

If it makes you feel any better, you were given credit at the bottom of the page

Citation:

A big thanks to Mr. Kevin Cashen for his work on the subject and great resource of pictures and figures utilized in this writing.
Microstructure pictures, TTT charts, and crystal structure diagrams, and some reference information obtained from:
[1] Cashen, Kevin, Marathon Forge, “Techniques, Tools, and Information”
http://www.cashenblades.com/Info/Info.html

 

[Karl B. Andersen]

"Marathon Forge"?

 

[Donald Babcock]

Quenchant that I use for 10XX steel is peanut oil. Fairly easy to find and inexpensive. I wont use any type of oil unless it is a food based oil. The main reason is that I never seem to take the time to fully clean the oil of the blades when getting them ready for tempering. When sitting in an oven for an hour or two the peanut oil smells like you are cooking popcorn and it doesn't leave thick black nasty smoke in the house that my wife could complain about.

 

[cpirtle]

It's not easy to get true quench oil in small quantities.

If you are fortunate enough to be near a McMaster-Carr their 11 second quench has worked great for me with 10xx & Wx steels. You can get it in 1 gallon or 5 gallon & larger sizes.

I work 10 minutes from their Cleveland Distribution facility so I'm lucky but they ship & will sell to anyone off of their web page.