1095 Question

tobinsmith

tobinsmith

Joined
Feb 4, 2008
Messages
1,416
Hi, trying out 1095 for the first time and have run into a small problem... Ground it yesterday and ht'd it today and all went well, except for a slight warpage in the blade. It's about 1/16 to 3/32 out. :grumpy:

I went ahead and tempered it and was wondering what you'd all suggest:

Try to bend it? I've tried this on some O1 blades but haven't had any luck (broke!).

Or can I repeat the heat treat process? If so, should I do anything before I re-treat?

Thanks!
Tobin
 
My thought would be anneal, straighten hot, normalize, re-HT

have you read all of the stickies at the top of the page yet? (the ones labeled "good info here"?)

-Page
 
It is all ways a hard call to risk straightening a blade. But when I have no choice I bring it up to tempering temp put it into a vise and straighten it with a hammer while hot. If it cools down It goes back into the oven and I try again.
Praying does not hurt either.
 
definantly re-anneal and normalize 3x. If it doesnt warp during the normalizing go ahead and quench. Also I dont know if you know this or not, so I'll go ahead and share... When you quench DO NOT MOVE SIDE TO SIDE! also you may move foreward and reverse but no left/right no tilt either. the blade should be as close to 90º as can be with the point about 20-30º down. other than that have fun and post pics! :D
 
Thanks all for your answers!

I'm going to go back to the start with the heat treat process and not risk bending it.

I'll post pics when I get it right!

Thanks again
Tobin
 
Ya, go back to anneal, straighten and re-HT. I have never had any success with "tweaking" 1095. Now, with 1085/1084/5160 you can do a heck of a lot of tweaking. These lower carbon steels do very nicely cold in (semi) annealed state. I have straightened 1085 blades, rough forged and annealed, by twisting them in a big vise with a big pipe wrench. Also on a light bench anvil with a lead hammer and leather under the blade. Any of this on 1095 in any state will probably lead to a big PING!:( On the reheat reat, accept that the blade will be different that what it was. Re-grind the profile until the edge going into the HT is about .30". Gently does it. :)
 
Tobin stop! Hold on before you re-heat treat! Find the apex of the bend on that blade and mark it, put one end in a vise with some leather padding around it. Now wet some cloth or better yet some ceramic wool and hold it against just the edge to protect it while you heat the spine with a torch in the area of the apex. When the spine turns purple just give the free end a slight nudge or two and you can straighten that blade right out without redoing your heat treatment. Only the spine will be a little softer from the heat and many folks think that is pretty cool anyhow. I have done this with 1095 plenty of times.

I often drone on about Young modulus and what has no effect on it, well heat is one thing that does have plenty effect on it! When that blade is 500F+ it will cease to act like a spring and will be more like putty, the edge will be thin enough to follow along without any damage, despite the fact that it is still completely hard. You can use this stuff to your advantage as well as blowing myths out of the water;).
 
Kevin beat me to it. He uses a similar method to mine.

First, figure exactly how you are going to twist/bend/hammer the blade to straighten it. Do a dry run,sans bending, to get the procedure down (Putting a wooden board on the anvil and using a brass or wood hammer works for bad warps, a vise works best for twists and small bends.).
Then, put the blade in the oven at 500F and hold for about 30 minutes, you can now tweak the blade as desired safely. At 500F a properly hardened 1095 blade will still be Rc59-60.
I'd follow the straightening with a final 400F temper.

Final note. When quenching 1095 (or any 10XX steel), once it is past the pearlte nose (about 2 seconds after it enters the oil) you can pull it out,wipe it off with a dry rag (watch out, it can catch fire), examine it for warps and twists,and hammer away or twist in a vise (or use heavily gloved hands) to your hearts content. The structure is like putty ( it is super flexible) until the Ms around 400F. Get it back into the oil for a completion of the cooling to below 200F as soon as the warp is out.
If you feel the blade getting stiff, stop straightening and put it back in the oil. Any further straightening must wait until after tempering is complete, using methods like mine or Kevin's.
Stacy
 
Wow, thanks guys for all the great info! I hope to try it again tonight and I'll let you know how it works out.

Tobin
 
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