A2 knife did not harden during heat treatment

S

SamaraVolk

Joined
Apr 17, 2014
Messages
93
This A2 blade is going to be the second knife I grind post heat treatment. I did my first 1084 grind post heat treat for the first time and I'm happy with the results. That being said, I never used A2 before. One thing came up that has me a little puzzled. The A2 came out soft (using hardness testing files, that's all I have). The hardness seems to be between 45 and 50!! My procedure was: 1) SS envelope with small piece of paper 2) ramp to 1425 and hold for 15 minutes 3) ramp to 1750 and hold for 30 minutes 4) aluminum plate quench 5)2 temper cycles for 2 hours at 450. I did not slow ramp to 1425. Could this be my problem. Also, I did not clean the blade prior to testing with the files. Thanks
 
Did you check the hardness before temper?
 
Charlie, no I did not. I did not clean it prior to tempering. I will clean it when I get home and retest with the files. Hopefully it will be a thick layer of carb that skewed the readings
 
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