1095 HT success

I

iowashtr23

Joined
Apr 19, 2009
Messages
57
So i had some 1095 3/16 i wanted to use up so i made a knife for a friend. i have never used 1095 so i read alot of post here that talked about HT and quenching 1095. Since all i have right now is a 2 brick forge for HT (soon going to build an actual kiln) i brought knife to 320grit finish and fired up forge. I let the forge preheat for about 5 mins then with long tongs stuck knife in. I didn't just lay knife in forge i continuely moved it back and forth so i wouldn't get any hotspots. After about 3 or 4 mins in forge i brought knife out for a quick magnet check. Non-magnetic so i stuck knife back in forge and continued to move back and forth for and additional 5 mins (I would call this soak time?) Then brought knife out and immediately quenched in Canola oil, I know i read a ton about having to quench in Parks#50 but god its hard to find that stuff and i really don't need a 55gal drum full of it plus to damn expensive. So canola oil it was. so i quenched it edge first then complete submerge until cool enough to touch. Once cooled i check the edge with a file and man it skated across like ice so i pushed harder on file to really try to make it drag but no can do. Then off to oven for temper at 425 for 2hrs let cool to room temp then back in at same temp and 2 more hrs. I call it Success or is its Luck?? anyway thats how i HT 1095 without an actual Kiln. Currently in process of building an actual kiln so i can do multiple knives at one time. Thanks guys for all the great info in the post.
 
I think you'll be fine. Myself, I can't use the forge to heat treat for crapola. I always overheat my blades. I use my Evenheat oven now. Go in with somebody and share the cost of the Parks 50. It's worth it.
 
Bring it by, I want to see! If you're done with the temper we can take it up to Tinker and see if we can get them to test it on the hardness tester. That should give you a pretty good idea of the state of the steel. Did you preheat the oil for the quench to 125°? I was worried that you'd have problems with the filework. I'm glad it worked out OK.
 
actually the quench was at roughly 120 degrees. I was very worried about the file work myself but seemed to work out. I took the knife today to a old guy down in Oceola today he has a harness tester and it ran at 57 RC so i'm happy with that. I'll bring it by when i get done with finish sanding.
 
I'm learning that when judging the temp by eye (which is how we say, "Is it hot enough? Time to pull it out and check with a magnet."), it's easy to let it get too hot. It's non-magnetic at 1550 degrees, and it's still non-magnetic at 1800 degrees. If you don't practice checking repeatedly on the way up, you might go way past non-magnetic while thinking you've got it "just right".

I forge pretty hot because the metal moves easier that way, but when it's time to heat treat, I tone it way down. My goal is to have the forge "cool" enough that it's going to be hard to get the blade so hot that I get grain growth and ruin all the work that has gone into normalizing and annealing the blade beforehand. Ideally, I'll have my forge at right around the proper hardening temp. for that steel, so I could let it sit in there all day and never worry that it gets too hot. (I've never checked it, by the way, but it would be good if I did...I do it mostly by eye now.)

So the upshot is spend some time checking your steel several times as it heats up. You might end up surprised at how far below what you *think* critical temperature is, that you actually reach non-magnetic. Bright orange to glowing yellow? WAY too hot. Think more of a late sunset when the sun is about 2/3 below the horizon already -- when the sun is dull enough that you can look at it directly. That's kind of the color I use as the right time to check for non-magnetic. (Maybe even a little cooler than that, actually.)
 
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