- Joined
- May 31, 2016
- Messages
- 485
Gentlemen,
I have been working with various steels of the the eutectoid and hypoeutectoid categories as I have yet to purchase a heat treating oven, and have found that I can't maintain a sufficiently constant temperature in my gas forge, even with a muffle to meet the 1475 for 10 minutes that is proscribed for 1095.
My plan is to purchase a heat treating oven to branch out a bit, but I just haven't pulled the trigger yet.
Either way, I have some 1095 sitting around and was bored, so I did a quick test, hardening a piece of 1095 and a piece of 1084 and hitting them with some HRC files. The 1084 was brought to critical and quenched, the 1095 was quenched after minimal soak time at 1475 (a minute or so maybe, I pulled the piece out when my thermocouple was showing the temp climbing to 1500). Anyway, I tested their hardness and i got 64ish from the 1084 (which was what I was expecting) and 66ish from the 1095.
My question is this. I understand that the lack of soak time will leave some carbon undissolved in the piece, but I did get a bit of extra hardness from the 1095. Does the undissolved carbon negatively impact the blade in another way (more prone to fracture, etc.)? In other words, prior to getting a HT oven, is it worth me using the 1095 if I want a slightly harder blade? Or did I just get a bit lucky with this HT and I shouldn't expect the same results trying the same process again?
I have been making some kitchen knives lately and wouldn't mind trying them out of 1095 if there is some (even marginal) benefit.
Thanks,
Joe
I have been working with various steels of the the eutectoid and hypoeutectoid categories as I have yet to purchase a heat treating oven, and have found that I can't maintain a sufficiently constant temperature in my gas forge, even with a muffle to meet the 1475 for 10 minutes that is proscribed for 1095.
My plan is to purchase a heat treating oven to branch out a bit, but I just haven't pulled the trigger yet.
Either way, I have some 1095 sitting around and was bored, so I did a quick test, hardening a piece of 1095 and a piece of 1084 and hitting them with some HRC files. The 1084 was brought to critical and quenched, the 1095 was quenched after minimal soak time at 1475 (a minute or so maybe, I pulled the piece out when my thermocouple was showing the temp climbing to 1500). Anyway, I tested their hardness and i got 64ish from the 1084 (which was what I was expecting) and 66ish from the 1095.
My question is this. I understand that the lack of soak time will leave some carbon undissolved in the piece, but I did get a bit of extra hardness from the 1095. Does the undissolved carbon negatively impact the blade in another way (more prone to fracture, etc.)? In other words, prior to getting a HT oven, is it worth me using the 1095 if I want a slightly harder blade? Or did I just get a bit lucky with this HT and I shouldn't expect the same results trying the same process again?
I have been making some kitchen knives lately and wouldn't mind trying them out of 1095 if there is some (even marginal) benefit.
Thanks,
Joe
