1095 Annealing Necessary?

B

Bob Lyon

Joined
Aug 11, 1999
Messages
69
I've been reading some recent posts, and I just wanna make sure I'm straight on what needs to be done to 1095 before cutting and grinding.

I use hot rolled 1095 from Admiral Steel. Does it need to be annealed before I start grinding? Sorta hope so, since I haven't been doing that, and that would be a good excuse for why I'm so dang slow. :)

If is does need annealing, is this the right way:
Heat to nonmagnetic, then just let it cool slowly inside the oven.

Actually my "oven" is a temporary affair I assemble with firebricks, but it stays nice and hot for quite a while after I turn off the big propane torch I got from Harbor Freight.

Thanks
 
I'm a newbie, so I might not be as qualified to answer your question as some of the other folks here... but I was e-mailing Admiral Steel to order some 1095, and they said their 1095 hot rolled listed in the knife/sword steels does NOT come annealed. If you want to order hot rolled annealed, you can order it sheared from a sheet, but it costs a bit more. Because of this, I decided to switch to cold rolled annealed. Good price, and it comes annealed so it's not hell on my drill bits and sanding belts.

I don't know much about the annealing process, but from what I've learned of it, your method would work fine. I think some people put it in a pile of ashes or in sand to make the cooling process slower.
 
Bob,

what you are doing is called normalizing the steel. After you normalize the steel put it in your oven at 1320 for about an hour and you have annealed it. Then grind out your blade shape, drill holes ect.
 
webster defines annealing as the softening of metal through heating and slow cooling.
Normalizing; Uniform heating and cooling of metal to return the structure to "normal" after forging or working.

Bob. just keep doing what you are doing.


Bill B. ????:D
 
I would suggest doing a couple of normalizing heats.....heat the bar to a orange color and then let cool in stillair until all the color is out of the bar,then do it again.......Then heat to non-magnetic and leave in the forge or put it in a bucket of warmdry vermiculite or sand until dead cold and then you should be fine,as this should have it dead soft.
Bruce
 
Thanks, guys. It made a big difference, especially on this one piece that was giving my drill bits a real hard time. :D
Bob
 
Our Heat Treatment of 1095 Plowshare Steel

Hardening (Brine)

All of our 1095 blades are worked in the annealed state as it arrives from the supplier. However this steel is easily annealed.
1. Our 1095 blades are not wrapped as it may slow the quench.
2. Preheat: 1200 deg F.
3. Austenitize: 1500 deg F. hold 5 min.*
4. Quench: In Brine at 170 deg F.** (63-65 RC as quenched)
5. Temper 1 hr. 400 deg. F.
6. Torche drawn, or spring back.***
7. De-stress 1 hr. 300 deg. F.

Annealing (Normalizing)

1. Wrap blades with stainless foil.
2. Pre-heat: 1200 deg. F.
3. Heat slowly to 1450 deg.
4. Soak 10-15 min.
5. Furnace Cool (or air cool should suffice)

Notes
* close attention must be paid to not over heat, or hold this steel at transformation for long periods of time. This "extra" heat results in large grain size when quenched creating a very brittle blade.

** Brine: this is a solotion consisting of water and non-iodized salt. Salt is added to the solution until it contains enough salt to float an egg. This is a rapid quench and the solution should be pre-heated to 170 deg. F. in order to avoid undesired heat stress on the steel. This quenchent is sometimes reffered to as a water quench. This quench is sometimes avoided, however we have found brine to be an excellent medium for 1095.
 
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