1084 tempering times and temperatures

U

Utican

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Sep 18, 2010
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Just got my blades tested and found out that after 2x one hour temper at 400f my blades are 56-57 RC, what should I do as far as tempering to bring that up to 58-60RC? How much harder is 58 compared to 56, I don't quite understand how much is 1 RC
 
At what temperature did you heat treat them? I tempered 1084 at 425 for 2hrs 2x and a 60 rc file tester wont cut the edge. I soaked at 1500 for 5 minutes for heat treat and used mcaster carr quench heated to 125 degrees.
 
All those tempering HRC's are really dependent on the "as quenched hardness" you are reaching.(Like Frank has already made mention to.)

When I switched to an engineered quench specific oil and refined my HT techniques, I went from 3x 375F to 3x 425F to get the same hardness with 1084. I think if you need to drop below 400F to keep HRC's, you have to revisit your quench process.

Rick
 
Rgr, I use charcoal fire in a rudimentary kinda way, so quenching temp is a bit of unknown,the only known fact is that was for sure in nonmagnetic state and quenching medium is olive oil preheated, that being said I just acquired a Vulcan 550 is the temp scale on these ovens reliable?
 
You did not reach full hardness, or the temper temp control was off, or the testing was off. In what area was the blade tested, and how? More details may narrow down possibilities.
 
Utican said:
Rgr, I use charcoal fire in a rudimentary kinda way, so quenching temp is a bit of unknown,the only known fact is that was for sure in nonmagnetic state and quenching medium is olive oil preheated, that being said I just acquired a Vulcan 550 is the temp scale on these ovens reliable?
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It takes a lot of practice to get consistant with an open forge. It's fine to go low-tech (I do, mostly) but you have to know your limitaions. 1084 is the best steel for your current setup. I would shy away from the olive oil though (Too thick and gummy). It would be best to have a professional grade quench oil but if you insist on going organic, canola oil is better (peanut is better still... but...$$$$$)
 
Utican said:
Rgr, I use charcoal fire in a rudimentary kinda way, so quenching temp is a bit of unknown,the only known fact is that was for sure in nonmagnetic state and quenching medium is olive oil preheated, that being said I just acquired a Vulcan 550 is the temp scale on these ovens reliable?
Click to expand...

Are you sure you ground all the way to the good steel under the decarb after HT? if you didn't get all the way through the decarb layer that would give you a soft reading

-Page
 
I just taken look and he took a reading basically on ricasso , makes sense, blade is hard enough it hard to grind even with new set of DMT diamonds ,ill have it re read, in any event what hardness is desirable in a working blade, and if this is a true reading would 56 be too soft?
 
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