?? A2 heat treat questions

G

Greg Obach

Joined
Apr 16, 2003
Messages
501
Hi

just got a couple pounds of A2 drops.. (airkool) ... and was gonna forge some knives of it....

i know it says to air cool with a couple bars pressure........ what about quenching plates that some people use for D2

has anyone used quench plates for A2....? does it make a difference....

how would you go about normalizing the stuff........... or is it a triple air quench ??


thanks
Greg
 
I just did a dozen or so of different thicknesses in A2. I normalized, then hardened, as per the instructions on the crucible site. I did plate quench them - no warping, even on the thin blades and they came out reading RHC 63. I triple tempered them (a flash temper while the oven cooled and two primary tempers), and wound up with readings between 60 - 61.

Rob!
 
It isn't possible to properly 'normalize' an air hardening steel since it hardens when air cooled . Instead it should be annealed , that is heat to critical then turn off the furnace or put it in ash to slow cool. Plate quenching will work fine.
 
mete said:
It isn't possible to properly 'normalize' an air hardening steel since it hardens when air cooled . Instead it should be annealed , that is heat to critical then turn off the furnace or put it in ash to slow cool. Plate quenching will work fine.
Click to expand...

My apologies - wrong choice of words. I "stress Relieved" - not normalized. Instructions from Crucible for stress relief as follows.

Stress Relieving​
Annealed Parts:​
​
​
Heat to 1200-1250°F (650-675°C), hold
2 hours, then cool in still air.​

Hardened Parts:​
​
​
Heat to 25-50°F (15-25°C) below the
original tempering temperature, hold 2 hours, then cool in
still air.


Thanks for keeping me straight Mete:o

Rob!​

 
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