52-100 oven Heat treat?

Alan Folts

Alan Folts

Joined
Oct 4, 1998
Messages
427
I have used quite a bit of 52-100 in my knives and find it an exceptional steel to work and use. My question is this, most of my previous heat treat has been an open flame kind of heat treat, so I am just going past the non magnetic phase for 52-100 and quenchind in 150 degree oil...

What if i wanted to do it in the electric heat treating oven? what temps would you suggest.. The peice i just ground is a little big for my meathods of heat treat on this particular steel so far... Let me know, I am dying to fire up the oven!

Alan...
 
Alan if I understand what your wanting, your wanting the heat setting to set your oven to bring 52100 to quenching temp. Set your oven to 1550 and let the steel come to that heat then quench, should do it.
I do all mine in the forge with a magnet, but this is the temp I've found stated in 2 different 52100 heat treating procedures

hope this helps

Bill
 
The critical on 52100 is about 1475, depends on your batch. I have put the bigger knives with clay on them in a heat treat oven that is set for 1550 deg. as fast as it can get there. When it reads 1550 on the digital thermometer, I would take them out and quench in 300 degree dextron II transmission fluid. The steel is not at 1550 yet, as it lags behind some. Leave them in for an hour at 300 and then let cool to about 150 degrees before you take it out. You can wait longer if you want,but it quits forming martinsite at 175 deg. I then temper twice at 475 for 2hours each. You might start at a lower temperature for the tempering till you find out what your particular batch of steel does best at. The reason I use transmission fluid is that it boils at 475 deg. That is the temperature that the martinsite starts to form in 52100.
This is what I do and you can use part or all of it to do the 52100. It is my choice of steel for any kind of knife, except maybe a diving knife and I don't dive :). I quit diving a long time ago.
Hope this might help some.
 
Check out what Howard Clark says on his site here:
http://www.mvforge.com/salt pot info.html

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Temperature control from this method is unparalleled, and allows one to manipulate the microstructure a great deal more effectively than "eyeball" methods. It is especially good to use if you intend pursuing 52100 as a blade material. What that steel does in heat treatment is very dependent on austenitizing temperture, and the results can be dramatically different with as little as a 100F change in the temp prior to the quench. If too much of the available 1%C is dissolved into the austenite solution, you will get "plate" martensite, which is more brittle, always, irrespective of actual tempered hardness as measured on the rockwell scale. Austenitizing temperature for 52100 should normally be held to 1550F or less. At 1550F, there will be .55-.6% of the available carbon dissolved into the austenite, with the remainder present as retained carbides in the martensite that is formed in the quench. This is good. Over-heat the blade to 1650-1700F (real easy to do by the "eyeball" method, and you may put as much as .65-.8% of the carbon into solution. This is bad. Plate martensite results, rather than the more desireable "lath" martensite, the retained carbides are fewer, or not there at all (which reduces the materials wear resistance or edge holding ability, and IMO reduces the potential "sharpness" of the blade as well.
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