Recommendation? 15n20

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.
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What kind of hardness are you getting after tempering for kitchen use? Do you have any insight to offer for a simple heat treatment? Once I know I have steady work I'm getting a oven.

I also have had a harder time with 80CrV2. It's worked better on larger blades probably because the edge gets a soak. I just made a big chopper in 1084 and it was so easy and turned out great. Wish they made thinner stock.
 
Find some cheap ROPE because it's easy to do a lot of testing with the same material over and over at a reasonable price. I will do three tests all on the same day with a blade. I will generally sharpen and mark a section of the blade so I'm testing that area only to determine when it gets dull and how many cuts(somewhat subjective) but by counting the cuts you get a good idea. I will resharpen and test that area again...resharpen and test again... 3 times to get an average and tells me about what it takes to bring back to sharp and how aggressive I have to be when it's getting dull. Cutting random material like paper and spuds is Ok BUT when did the knife get dull on the spuds or slicing open an envelope...NOW if you were to do a Sack of Spuds you would have some great data points and lots of French Fries to snack on!!!!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::cool::cool:
 
Busto said:
Find some cheap ROPE because it's easy to do a lot of testing with the same material over and over at a reasonable price. I will do three tests all on the same day with a blade. I will generally sharpen and mark a section of the blade so I'm testing that area only to determine when it gets dull and how many cuts(somewhat subjective) but by counting the cuts you get a good idea. I will resharpen and test that area again...resharpen and test again... 3 times to get an average and tells me about what it takes to bring back to sharp and how aggressive I have to be when it's getting dull. Cutting random material like paper and spuds is Ok BUT when did the knife get dull on the spuds or slicing open an envelope...NOW if you were to do a Sack of Spuds you would have some great data points and lots of French Fries to snack on!!!!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::cool::cool:
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:eek: Just how big of a sack of taters does it take to dull a 15N20 slicer?!
 
Also a nice patina I bet. I think apples make the best patina, a nice dark bluish color.
 
skillgannon said:
What kind of hardness are you getting after tempering for kitchen use? Do you have any insight to offer for a simple heat treatment? Once I know I have steady work I'm getting a oven.

I also have had a harder time with 80CrV2. It's worked better on larger blades probably because the edge gets a soak. I just made a big chopper in 1084 and it was so easy and turned out great. Wish they made thinner stock.
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Start at 250f, and work up. I often use 275-300f on kitchen knives.

For non temp controlled heat treat, see if it’s chippy at 250, then work up from there. You should be Rc61-63, depending on how close to optimum you lucked out at.
 
With my heat treat I find that 300° gives me 63RC but that's at a starting hardness of 66.5
I seam to drop 1RC per 25° bump in temper temp.
 
JTknives said:
With my heat treat I find that 300° gives me 63RC but that's at a starting hardness of 66.5
I seam to drop 1RC per 25° bump in temper temp.
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I’ll have to try 1450f, as I’m getting Rc62@300f, using 1470f to heat treat.
 
The hardening equation is a little different with 1084/15N20 damascus because you have at least 60-65% 1084 so the carbon content is a bit higher. I tend to use .25 1084 and like .144 92 x ,072) of 1084 and you always have that "extra" outer piece of 1084, so I am probably more like 70-30 when I go with 13 layers which gives me over .80% C minimum. 1500-375/400 works for that mix in most applications, but I am sure that I could experiment with the austenizing temp a bit. .
 
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