Adding color by tempering?

T

Thayne

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Jul 7, 2016
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I love the colors that show up in steel at the 500-650 degree range and I thought it might be cool to make a knife that had a blue sheen to it. However, I know that is pretty hot for tempering (I’ve been using O1 steel which I usually temper at 400)so my question is: could I implement these colors without ruining my heat treatment? If so, when in the tempering cycles should I do it or does it not matter? Thanks guys!

Thayne
 
Airbrush and transparent acrylic paints?

You could experiment with various chemicals and see which one leaves a blue sheen around 400-ish degrees...
 
I once did a dark blue temper on a utility knife of mine and within a few months the color was 100% gone from the handle and spine area. I know this really doesn't help with your problem but I thought that might as well share this info. The steel was 80CrV2 and the temper was about 2h in around 250°C.
 
Maybe try putting the edge in water and with a controlled heat source try to get it to a blue color? With this method you won't the edge and part of the bevel blue but I think that kind of look can be pretty nice.
 
Ive seen purple demascus. They said they did it with a salt bath and it will have a lower hardness and is purely aesthetic
 
The temper colors are surface oxides a few millionths of an inch thick. They will rub off.
 
Thanks for the input everyone! I wonder if anyone has ever actually tested the Rockwell hardness of various temper colored steels, I’d love to see that spread sheet! G GoldSkula I read a similar suggestion (in a YouTube comment section of all places) and that might work except the blade is a dagger and is double edged. Could you hamon the edges with clay and use a blowtorch? Also Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith that’s interesting, I really didn’t know what was happening to make the colors. Could you acid etch to lock the color down? Would the colored oxides prevent the surface from etching? This is fascinating!

Thayne
 
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