1095 Not Hard HELP

C

cartierusm

Joined
Feb 23, 2017
Messages
69
I need some help. I don’t think it’s hard. It’s 1095 and 15N20 Rain drop Damascus that I messed up. I made it too thin so I thought I’d make a knife anyway.


1095/15N20 .148” Thick

New Heathbath/Parks 50 Quench Oil

Used but excellent condition Evenheat Kiln

Normalized 3 Times at 1575F

Heat treated to 1475F soaked for 6 minutes and then immediate quench.

Held in oil the entire time until it was about 100 degrees Fahrenheit when I pulled it out.


Watch the video you can see and hear the files grabbing. There’s pics of the quench oil container it came in and pics of how far my oil bath is from my kiln.


I guess these are what’s possibly going wrong:

1. I damaged the metal while forge welding, maybe burnt out too much carbon? Got it too hot?

a. My friend who’s new to this as well thinks I’m creating a lot of scale. Maybe I’ve got too much of an oxidizing environment? My friend has taken a few private lessons though. I’ve shown my pieces of Damascus I’ve made to knife smith who says that the scale looks normal.

2. The Evenheat Kiln is used and although in excellent condition the thermocouple could be out of spec?

3. Because the piece is so thin I’m losing too much heat from kiln to oil, even though the bath is right next to the kiln?

4. I’m not using the files correctly?

5. Bad or wrong oil?

Video of file test: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9obioziegwoykup/file_test.mp4?dl=0
kiln_oil_layout.jpg
oil.jpg
blade_scratches.jpg
 
The usual question is whether you ground off all the decarb layer, this is usually thicker than just the visual layer of scale. Only re-etching to see the pattern may not be enough? Unless seriously decarburized, seems like there should still be enough carbon to harden?
 
Did you make the steel or is this eBay steel? If eBay, it’s likely Pakistani steel, and you won’t be able to harden it above the low Rc40’s. I bought some a few years back, and wasted a few days testing different heat treats. I got a max reading on one piece at Rc55.
 
M milkbaby , no I didn't grind any layer off. All the stuff I've read and seen people are just using a file to test right after quenching. So how much should I grind off?

Willie71 Willie71 , no it's from Kelly Cupples and Alpha Knife Supply.
 
[QUOTE=" no I didn't grind any layer off. /QUOTE]
There is where your problem is. There is probably hard steel there you just need get to it
 
cartierusm said:
M milkbaby , no I didn't grind any layer off. All the stuff I've read and seen people are just using a file to test right after quenching. So how much should I grind off?

Willie71 Willie71 , no it's from Kelly Cupples and Alpha Knife Supply.
Click to expand...

Likely decarb then. I prefer 1600-1650 for normalizing, getting a bit above ac3. That’s not your issue though.
 
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