80crv2 heat treatment issues

[CagedSuperman]

So last weekend I heat treated a blade seemed hard after quench, was done with tempering and checked with my hardness files; and 1 side was hard, the other side soft??????? Wtf????
So went to re-heat treat the blade today and for the life of me I can not get this blade to harden up.

 

[Cliff Carter Knives]

Where’d you get the steel and what’s your HT recipe?

 

[DeadboxHero]

Step one, Remove decarb before testing.

 

[CagedSuperman]

Where’d you get the steel and what’s your HT recipe?

Internet

 

[PMQ]

Internet

that's super specific and helpful, we all know that everything on the internet is 100% true. But seriously, we can't help you unless you tell us exactly your HT recipe and how you did it.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

The most likely answer is that there is still decarb on the one side.
Secondly, a hardness file is only a guess at hardness. It only works on an edge or corner. I don't think they would work well at all on a flat side.

 

[CagedSuperman]

The most likely answer is that there is still decarb on the one side.
Secondly, a hardness file is only a guess at hardness. It only works on an edge or corner. I don't think they would work well at all on a flat side.

I’ve watched a few videos and I tested the edge and the flats. I only have 1 knife that is harder than the hrc65 file.

 

[Joshua Fisher]

I can only assume you don’t really want help with this issue, several people have chimed in to help but you haven’t given any information on how you heat treated or processed the blade. As stated above likely the issue is decarb, grind the blade clean lightly then etch in ferric you will see the decarb almost immediately, it looks almost white in the etch. You’ll need to grind away all decarb along to edge to know if it hardened or not.