1095 hardening

Heat to 1475f and hold for 10min then quench immediately in a fast oil (or brine/water if your brave).

Also I would personally give it a good normalizing before hand but thats just how I do it. Everyone will probably be a little different.
 
quint said:
Heat to 1475f and hold for 10min then quench immediately in a fast oil (or brine/water if your brave).

Also I would personally give it a good normalizing before hand but thats just how I do it. Everyone will probably be a little different.
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Good advice. Use warmed canola oil if you don't have a commercial such as Parks #50.
 
Forgive my beginner ignorance but what is normalizing and how do I accomplish this. Also...when I get my knife to 1475f I take it you mean hold it at that temp for 10 minutes?
I'm in a apartment and will be improving this.
also do I heat the whole knife or just the blade(cutting edge)?
 
Yeah you would be better off with 1084 doing that kind of work. Yeah you should hold it for 10 min at that time.
 
1095 isn't a steel to HT for the beginner. It requires good heat regulation ( HT oven) to allow holding it at 1475F for 10 minutes. Then it has to be quenched in a fast oil, like Parks/Heatbath #50 ( canola won't really harden 1095 well). After quench, it needs to immediately be tempered at around 400F for 2 hours, twice.

It can be brine quenched with some skill and practice, but the failure rate is high.

1095 has great potential if fully hardened. The above procedures will give Rc65 as quenched, and Rc61 after temper. Quenching in a lesser oil, or using less regulated HT will significantly lower these numbers.

I was asked by a new maker a while back what the biggest difference between a 1095 blade and a 1084 blade would be. I answered, "About $1200 in equipment."
Both will make a great blade. The 1084 blade can be back yard heat treated and still give a good result. A torch or simple forge and canola is fine for it.

If you have already made the blade, you might consider sending it to Darren Sanders or some other HTer. I hope you have no plans on doing the HT inside your apartment.....that would be a very,very,very bad idea.
 
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