80CRV2 heat treat questions (1080+)

ShannonSteelLabs

ShannonSteelLabs

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Sep 9, 2015
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I gave my cousin some 80CRV2 to try using to make a knife in a good steel.
He is just starting out forging and seems to be picking it up quickly.
He uses a coal forge i believe.
I have heard a few different ways to heat treat this but i want to give him the best shot at a good heat treat.
from what i hear you heat to just past non magnetic and hold for 2-5 mins then quench in oil.
Then temper in an oven twice for 2 hours each, this is where im not sure to direct him.
i have seen 355-425 degrees.
I know he can call Aldo from NJSB to get a better idea of where to go.
any info will be greatly appreciated. he wants to try making a few fixed blades and one big chopper.
 
Colin, there isn't much more to add than what you already know. Target aus temp is around 1500F, but is forgiving. Because of the small alloy %, a short soak is good. 5 minutes, 10 tops. Oil does not need to be a fast one, medium speed works well. Canola at 130F is OK. Temper temps are very hard to recommend, because this will depend on your post quench HRC, and knife application. Recommend that you walk the tempers up, start low around 350F. That may be too chippy for the application, and if so, go higher. Other than that...you got it.

The vanadium keeps a nice small aus grain, even at higher aus temps, and because it is a eutectoid, the aus temp window is larger than, say, 52100 and the like. Also because it is not a shallow hardening steel, medium speed oils will work well. Extremely forgiving heat treat.
 
samuraistuart said:
Colin, there isn't much more to add than what you already know. Target aus temp is around 1500F, but is forgiving. Because of the small alloy %, a short soak is good. 5 minutes, 10 tops. Oil does not need to be a fast one, medium speed works well. Canola at 130F is OK. Temper temps are very hard to recommend, because this will depend on your post quench HRC, and knife application. Recommend that you walk the tempers up, start low around 350F. That may be too chippy for the application, and if so, go higher. Other than that...you got it.

The vanadium keeps a nice small aus grain, even at higher aus temps, and because it is a eutectoid, the aus temp window is larger than, say, 52100 and the like. Also because it is not a shallow hardening steel, medium speed oils will work well. Extremely forgiving heat treat.
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awesome thanks! I believe he is using canola oil for quench, hes younger and cant afford quench oil. i will let him know about medium oil. he said he couldnt afford parks 50.
i will tell him a 5 minute soak time, and does 375-400 sound good for temper? I assume that should get near where he wants for toughness and edge holding.
 
ShannonSteelLabs said:
Yes i believe so. I bought it at bladeshow 2015.
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If so you may want to do some additional heat treat. non magnetic soaked all the way through, just at or below non magnetic all the way through, then dark red or about 1100 all the way through. to room temp after each round. Somebody more proficient in metallurgy may want to chime in.

I had some aldos that had huge speroids in it and would not get sharp after heat treat/quench.
 
You'll need to normalize it to break those spheroids up. That means hotter than non-magnetic. 1600F. After that, thermal cycling as above will help reduce the grain size.
 
Living The Dream said:
If so you may want to do some additional heat treat. non magnetic soaked all the way through, just at or below non magnetic all the way through, then dark red or about 1100 all the way through. to room temp after each round. Somebody more proficient in metallurgy may want to chime in.

I had some aldos that had huge speroids in it and would not get sharp after heat treat/quench.
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I had heard of that. The spheroids on aldos steel. I figured i would give him an eady steel to use. I just hope he can do that with out issue. Hes still starting out.
 
kuraki said:
You'll need to normalize it to break those spheroids up. That means hotter than non-magnetic. 1600F. After that, thermal cycling as above will help reduce the grain size.
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I was hoping that we wouldnt have to do that. I'll talk to him and we will do the themal cycling together.
 
If it came from NJSB you will. If it came from AKS, you won't, which I tested in another thread last winter. But if you buy enough steel from NJSB you'll get into the habit of just normalizing everything by default.
 
If you are starting out by forging you'll have to normalize .That's to get an even and small grain . do it three times with reducing temp each time would be the best. In any case it's an easy steel to forge and HT. Temper would be about 400 F .
 
I gotta ask. What am I leaving on the table if I'm doing stock removal and don t have a way to hold the temp steady in my mini forge? I just started using 80CrV2 before it was all 1084
 
skillgannon said:
I gotta ask. What am I leaving on the table if I'm doing stock removal and don t have a way to hold the temp steady in my mini forge? I just started using 80CrV2 before it was all 1084
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You might not get all of the alloying evenly into solution with even grain size and alloy distribution. With higher alloy content, (usually higher than 80crv2) you might not just leave performance on the table, but end up with undesirable structures and a carbon depleted matrix.
 
its not as bad as it sounds. just pump it with tongs in and out to keep temperature even after you reach your desired temperature. Otherwise if you go ahead and quench it and put a bunch of time into and then cant even get it sharp. Whats the use?

I skipped normalizing and ended up with scales on and then it would not sharpen. LOL. then tried to reheat the edge with a torch a couple of times and then burned the slabs. giggle.

oh well it is a great little workbench knife for opening packages and cutting weedeater line:)
 
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they all sharpen well. I have done some test cutting with the choppers and they held up ok. Maybe I have lucked out. I guess I should try to do a longer soak and compare. I have been working about overheating but the blades I broke looked great even at the tip.
 
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