Advice on Aldo's 1075.

Darrin Sanders

Darrin Sanders

Knifemaker
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Hey guys, I got a bar of Aldo's 1075 to play with and I'm having trouble getting it to harden. I've tried soaking it at 1500 for 3-4 minutes and quenching in Parks #50 but I only get an as quenched hardness of 52-53. Can anybody that has actually worked with this stuff give me any advice?
 
Nope, I cleaned all the decarb off with a 60X then took the piece all the way to 400X for testing.
 
Well, so much for the de-carb theory. It COULD be that you may have gotten a piece of Aldo's bad W-2 by mistake. Not likely, but its possible.

Aldo moves a lots of steel, and occasionally slip-ups do happen. I would call the Baron and ask what he thinks.
 
I tried to call but I they must have left for the weekend. I'll give him a call monday.
 
Hey Darrin. Your bar definitely had a green end right??

I've not had any issues with that stuff so far but I haven't had hardness testing done either. They perform well in routine use though. I have two in midstream now off the same 1.5" bar and you got me nervous big guy!

I'll be watching and hope you find a solution.
Andy
 
Nothing comes to mind but faulty testing or different steel. What is as quenched on 1075?
 
I'm not sure Mr. Fred but I'm thinking at least HRC 63-64. I haven't checked the color code yet but I know the bar had 1075 written on it as it came from Aldo's shop. I always make sure I cut the steel on the opposite end of Aldo' s shop markings. I never bother to check the color codes but I think I'll start.
By the way guys, I know my kiln is operating properly because I hardened 3 pieces of O1 for homemade test blocks and the as quenched hardness on them was HRC 66.5. They were all done back to back to back.
 
Wish I could help as I have played with several lengths of his 1075 from before. All seemed to harden very well and Ive gotten some really nice hamons out of it but I dont have a hardness tester so cant back anything up with proof.

I usually always do a normalizing though so that could be a small factor in it.
 
I have used his 1075 several times and never had a problem.I dont have a way to test hardness other than a file.Qenched in 125 degree veg oil a new Nicholson will barely scratch it.
Eddie
 
Aldo is coming out here for a local hammer in. I will see him tomorrow and will let him know about this thread. -Burton
 
Burton Harruff said:
Aldo is coming out here for a local hammer in. I will see him tomorrow and will let him know about this thread. -Burton
Click to expand...

I'll be hanging at the fireman's festival here in Bartlett. Should be a nice day wherever you are.

Enjoy, Fred
 
Thanks Mr. Harruff. I don't want to interfere with his hammer-in fun so tell him I'll call him next week.
 
Darrin,

Have you tried bumping the austenizing temperature up 50 degrees? How about a faster quench (ie water)?

Disclaimer: Never worked with 1075 but you can use these on your test piece and probably not hurt it.
 
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