AEB-L / 13C26 Heat Treat Question

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bndshardr

Joined
Oct 16, 2013
Messages
33
I'm using Aldo-sourced .070" thick AEB-L for a medium sized chef knife and did my heat treating over the weekend.

My procedure:
Preheat oven to 1950F
Insert blade, wrapped in foil
Allow oven to come back to temp
Soak 15 minutes
Plate Quench to just cool enough to gingerly handle with bare hands
Allow to cool to shop temp ~60F
Dunk in dry ice/denatured alcohol bath for 20 minutes
Bring back to room temp
Temper at 300 F for ~1:15
Repeat cold / hot two more times for a total of 3 cool/temper cycles

I was targeting ~62 for my hardness but when I tested it today (HT occurred on Saturday, if the time elapsed matters) at 64 and even a couple as high as 65. That;s a good thing,,, means my HT was effective.

My question is, will that hardness be too brittle for a chef knife? (I suspect so) And secondly, can I get by with a single additional temper cycle and at what temperature to achieve my goal of 62?

Thanks for the help.

bndshardr
 
Sounds like you're right on track. I suggest 375 for 62-63 which is what I shoot for on a Chef knife. One more temp. at 375 for 1 hour should fix you right up. You may prefer 3 tempers but I find that 2 tempers for 2 hours each cycle work fine.
 
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