Recommendation? 15n20

Justin Schmidt

Justin Schmidt

Joined
Feb 18, 2016
Messages
2,209
How does it compare to 1084, 80crv2 etc.
I've been using 80crv2 but all I have is a 2 brick forge and I don't think it's optimal for 80crv2.
I'm just making EDC, Hunter/utility type knives. I want something that can keep a keen edge and easily resharpen. And I can bring out as much as possible out of the steel with my basic HT set up. Looks like it's down to 15n20 and 1084.
Oh and I'll be forging here very soon .
 
15n20 is pretty easy to heat treat. It will work well even if you overheat a bit, but if you can soak 5-10 min at 1465-1475f, you will get an extra 1-2Rc points compared to overheating a bit.
 
I’m using this steel, with simple backyard equipment. And my results seem pretty good. I’m doing a 5 minute soak past magnetic, quenching in parks 50. And tempering at 350 for 2 hours x 2. I’ve been rather impressed by the results, considering my lack of equipment. I haven’t had much luck with 80crv2. More testing to come after Christmas.
 
rodriguez7 said:
I’m using this steel, with simple backyard equipment. And my results seem pretty good. I’m doing a 5 minute soak past magnetic, quenching in parks 50. And tempering at 350 for 2 hours x 2. I’ve been rather impressed by the results, considering my lack of equipment. I haven’t had much luck with 80crv2. More testing to come after Christmas.
Click to expand...

15n20 is pretty forgiving, but seems to give us more than we should expect from it’s chemistry when optimized. It’ll heat treat fine with simple equipment, but it’ll give you a bit more if you have a kiln and fast oil.
 
I backyard HT 15N20 in a 2 brick forge and canola oil. I am very pleasantly surprised with how nice it comes out. I've only made kitchen knives but the edge stability is pretty good in use. In my tiny dataset, 1084 seemed a little chipper, but I don't know if that's the steel or my HT. One issue I have is that the tempering temps to get hardness values of 60+ are a little low, so I only temper around 300-325F (checked with oven thermometer). I don't have a hardness tester, so I'm just guesstimating off temps seen online and tempering a little lower since I may not be getting full hardness others are.
 
milkbaby said:
I backyard HT 15N20 in a 2 brick forge and canola oil. I am very pleasantly surprised with how nice it comes out. I've only made kitchen knives but the edge stability is pretty good in use. In my tiny dataset, 1084 seemed a little chipper, but I don't know if that's the steel or my HT. One issue I have is that the tempering temps to get hardness values of 60+ are a little low, so I only temper around 300-325F (checked with oven thermometer). I don't have a hardness tester, so I'm just guesstimating off temps seen online and tempering a little lower since I may not be getting full hardness others are.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I'm doing with the 80crv2. Buy without a way for me to accurately control the temp I don't think I'm getting enough out of the steel.
Sounds like 15n20 may be right up my alley
 
skillgannon said:
I just ordered some thin stock for kitchen knives. How is it to heat treat with my little atlas forge and canola?
Click to expand...
I’m using a mini atlas, and I was using canola heated to 130 degrees. Now I’m using parks. I heat to past magnetic, let it soak for about 5 minutes, then quench. Followed by aluminum plates in my vise till it’s cool to the touch. Then I double temper at 350 for 2 hours. I’m drawing the spine back with a torch after all this, just for piece of mind.
 
skillgannon said:
I just ordered some thin stock for kitchen knives. How is it to heat treat with my little atlas forge and canola?
Click to expand...

Your Atlas will be easier to use than my 2 brick. I only HT at night now so I can see the color clearly. I go to nonmagnetic and just half a shade to shade brighter by my precisely calibrated eyes ;). Ideally I'd heat until I saw decalesence through the entire blade, but it's hard for me to see into the forge and catch it happening because I have it set up on the ground :eek:. I pump the blade to keep the heat even as possible but only soak for a little bit, basically until I'm sure the darn thing is heated up good and even before quenching, so maybe a minute soak tops. I'm sure it's better to go 5 minutes at 1475F, but I'm not set up for that... IIRC Warren (or JT?) have done tests and seen it get higher as quenched hardness than what the online data like at AKS says.
 
I get some real solid numbers out of it. But I have a hardness tester and an oven so I can tweak it till I get the best results. 15n20 really likes to be quenched at cooler temps. I don't notice any issues with the steel at the higher temps like 1475-1500 but I take it to 1450 and get some amazing numbers @ 66.5rc. I'm going to try going lower and see if I can find where hardness drops off. It also has a very fine grain. Every time I snap a chunk I am impressed with its grain size or lack there of.
 
JTknives said:
I get some real solid numbers out of it. But I have a hardness tester and an oven so I can tweak it till I get the best results. 15n20 really likes to be quenched at cooler temps. I don't notice any issues with the steel at the higher temps like 1475-1500 but I take it to 1450 and get some amazing numbers @ 66.5rc. I'm going to try going lower and see if I can find where hardness drops off. It also has a very fine grain. Every time I snap a chunk I am impressed with its grain size or lack there of.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm looking for I'm more into "slicers" because let's face it a knifes main purpose is to cut.
What should I temper at to keep a decent hardness.
 
JTknives said:
I get some real solid numbers out of it. But I have a hardness tester and an oven so I can tweak it till I get the best results. 15n20 really likes to be quenched at cooler temps. I don't notice any issues with the steel at the higher temps like 1475-1500 but I take it to 1450 and get some amazing numbers @ 66.5rc. I'm going to try going lower and see if I can find where hardness drops off. It also has a very fine grain. Every time I snap a chunk I am impressed with its grain size or lack there of.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I’ve been using 1465-1475f and getting Rc66. I haven’t tried going lower than that. I see an experiment in my future.
 
valknut said:
That's what I'm looking for I'm more into "slicers" because let's face it a knifes main purpose is to cut.
What should I temper at to keep a decent hardness.
Click to expand...
It's not just getting a good heat treat you have to match a good cutting/slicing profile to match the intended use of the knife. Testing is an integral part of knife making you can't just hope it all works out. The best practice is make a knife design you like and work on getting a good profile for hard work and then start cutting stuff and work the profile back until you're happy with edge strength and profile and ease of sharpening. Just going off recommended heat treat protocols without testing is walking in the dark. Getting it right on the first try is like hitting the Lottery...you don't believe you are getting the most out of 80cr2v but what testing have you done just wondering since you just started heat treating?
 
Is there a consensus for quenchant on this steel? I've seen both 7-9 (P50/DT-48) second and 9-11 (McMaster-Carr/Canola) second oils being recommended. Does the 7-9 second give better hardness numbers or is the steel deep enough hardening that it doesn't matter?
 
Busto said:
It's not just getting a good heat treat you have to match a good cutting/slicing profile to match the intended use of the knife. Testing is an integral part of knife making you can't just hope it all works out. The best practice is make a knife design you like and work on getting a good profile for hard work and then start cutting stuff and work the profile back until you're happy with edge strength and profile and ease of sharpening. Just going off recommended heat treat protocols without testing is walking in the dark. Getting it right on the first try is like hitting the Lottery...you don't believe you are getting the most out of 80cr2v but what testing have you done just wondering since you just started heat treating?
Click to expand...
That's pretty much what I planned on doing.
So far with the first blade I made I'm cutting all sorts of paper, mail, cardboard, sand paper, leather and my wife use it to slice potatoes last night and it's still sharp.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top