1095 Home heat treat

T

therron258

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Apr 8, 2009
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I built a small charcoal forge from a grill, and use a blower on it.

natural wood charcoal as well.

Note that i only have access to vegetable oil right now, and no type of temp gauge.


Do i have this process about right?

1. Bring Blade to non-magnetic, let air cool.

2. Bring blade to non-magnetic again, let air cool

3. Bring blade to non-magnetic, then quench in vegetable oil

4. Wipe it off, brush some scale off, and then put in the oven...

5. Place in oven at 400 for an hour, let air cool

6. Place in oven again for another hour@ 400.


Does anything need to be changed?


Ive never had them tested, and have no way to right now, but still want to make knives.
 
If you are trying to first normalize your steel in and out 3 times and just let cool to where there is no color (red or orange, about 4 to 5 minutes)). Do it at night so you can see the color as lighting will fool you. 1095 is not an easy steel to heat treat and it needs a fast quench oil to get the most out of it. it also needs to soak for about 5 minutes after it is up to heat which is hard to do in a coal fire because when steel gets above non magnetic you get grain growth and need to re-normalize. Very difficult with your setup. If I were you I would change to 1084 steel with your setup. Good luck.
 
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To normalize, you need to take the blade considerably hotter than non-magnetic temperature. 1600 first, 1575 second and 1550 third, heat to 1500 and soak 5 minutes and quench.

If you are using veg oil, it must be canola, and the blade will have to be thin enough to properly quench.

Throwing a blade into the oven at 400F will probably get you a 500F temper. Use a cake pan with an inch of sand under and on top of the blade and give it 2.5 hours. or use a muffle, still 2.5 hours required. You can pick up a digital multimeter for about 10 bucks that will read temp with a wire thermocouple, place the thermocouple with the blade and monitor your temps
 
I am constantly seeing " bring the blade to non-magnetic and quench". Where are so many getting this erroneous info? That may work to some extent on some of the hypoeutectoid 10xx steels, but even then, a little more heat will do better.
 
Greenpete and the Absolute Cheapskate methods both seem to indicate quenching at the Curie point. Even $50 Knife Shop seems to focus more on the magnet and less on the "...rise another 50 degrees..."
 
everywhere ive ever read about 1095 steels have said do it that way...

guess all my knives have been crap so far:eek:

looks like ill be sending it out..
 
You can judge the temperature by the colors. It should be orange-red. Don't use a toaster oven for the tempering though, it doesn't give you anything close to the indicated temperature. I had to install a temperature meter into mine before it was of any use.
 
While 'doing it that way' may give you a knife, it won't give you the best knife you can make.

I must simply dispute the use of temper colors as well. A 400F temper of 1 hour will give a very different color than a 400F temper of 3 hours.
 
69_knives said:
I must simply dispute the use of temper colors as well. A 400F temper of 1 hour will give a very different color than a 400F temper of 3 hours.
Click to expand...

You can use colors for the hardening to within 25 degrees. It would glow red-orange at 1500F.
 
cotdt said:
You can use colors for the hardening to within 25 degrees. It would glow red-orange at 1500F.
Click to expand...

I agree, I've started experimenting with doing it by eye and a magnet. I have to forge outside so I can't rely on colors alone so I do the old in-out, in-out with the blade continually checking with a magnet and watching as the thickest part of the blade becomes non-magnetic then keep pulling it out and putting back in the forge to let the colors creep up to the last area to become non-magnetic.
 
Anyone besides me use decalescence as an indicator for quenching?
Non-magnetic seems to occur about 100 degrees cooler, give or take, and will not give a complete transformation in my experience...

I just talked with a guy who claims to put carbon into his mild steel blades by quenching in motor oil, so claiming one should quench at the currie point is not as bad as some of the myths out there.... still, I wish people would stop repeating it (I believed it for years myself).
 
Here's a simple trick for 1095/W1 steels. put a pinch of table salt or 2 on the blade ( a good coke line for lack of a better term :eek:) then watch it CLOSELY! when the salt starts melting fast your at 1475-1500ºF (quench temp for this steel.) you can use your tongs and move it in and out of heat to maintain a temp by color. for the 5 minute soak time. Vegie oil will work in a pinch but DO BUY GOOD QUENCH OIL If YOUR MAKING MORE THAN JUST ONE. It's the 2nd most important ingrediant to making a knife next to the steel itself.

Jason
 
1475°/1500° is a good temp range for most common steels until you get into air cooling types and exotics. I would call 1475° a minimum for forming a good solution.
 
GHEzell said:
Anyone besides me use decalescence as an indicator for quenching?
(I believed it for years myself).
Click to expand...

Yes - often. Good indicator that you have risen above currie pt.
Then try to maintain that range a few moments - in and out, in and out - if you are using an atmospheric oven.
 
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