Aldo's Low Manganese 1075

J

JasonSCarter

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Hey fella's I saw a bunch of you tried Aldo's 1075 in this thread... How'd ya like it? did it move under the hammer nicely? any red shorting? I'm planning on buying some from the great baron himself soon and wanted to get your reviews?

Jason S Carter
 
I use it a lot. I use it straight, I also mix it with w2 for a subtle pattern weld, and finally, for swords, I use it san mai with w2 (also from Aldo). W2 for middle plate in san mai, 1075 for outter plates.
look at this hamon - it is a combo of w2 and low mang 1075. Also, look at my avatar, that is a low mang 1075 sword point.
DSC01700.jpg


This stuff moves easily, heat treatment is as simple as it can get with very little soak needed (almost can't screw it up because just at nonmagnetic is the appropriate temp for this particular steel and there are no excess carbides or alloy elements to soak so an even nonmagnetic heat is perfect for quenching). Can quench in canola, parks, or water (or brine). I use water into parks or canola for hamon. If no hamon designed, go for Parks or bioquench or something like it.

I bought a bunch of it in knife-sized stock and when I got it I made 4 little blades that were all mostly alike to test hamons and steel. As soon as I finished polishing and testing those, I bought another batch of stock for knives and a set of stock for swords. It is GREAT stuff. I only use it and w2 for almost everything now. Welds great with 15n20, also for high-contrast pweld.

take care,

Kevin
 
Thank you very much Kevin! That is exactly what I'm looking for! anyone else have any comments on this steel?
 
it has slightly less carbon so it won't hold an edge quite as well, but it works better for things like machetes becuase it is slightly tougher than a 1080 or 1095. also, it can be maintained easily with a file in the field.

notice all the "mainly"s and "slightly"s

Note: this is from research, not experience. however, there is a reason that there are a ton of 1075 and 1070 machetes and not near so many 1080 or 1095 machetes.
 
I've been wanting to try some too. Kevin, Sounds like you Austenitize at approx. 1425-1450 with about a 2 min. soak., is this correct? Also what is a good starting point for tempering? Thanks, Kevin.
 
Hello Again - the real benefit is the way that this steel can be made shallow hardening and therefore respond to a differential heat treatment. Normalize x 3 or 4, with the last one being subcritical. One grain thick layer of clay on whole blade, shallow (1/16" - 1/8") layer of clay where you don't want hardening. Heat, soak (2 min is plenty) and even the temp out, quench in 120F water for 3 sec then into your favorite oil of if you want to play safe quench straight into Parks 50 or comparable fast oil. It has less Manganese than 1080 or 1084 and therefore responds to diff heat treat the best. That will be the major difference. Also, because of the less mang, it etches a little lighter than 1080 or 1084 in a p-weld billet. Barely enough to notice unless you put the two of them right together. If you like to make subtle pattern welding sometimes, this is perfect (it plus w2 give a steel that has the grain of traditional steels and can take a beautiful hamon, so the combo is ideal for japanese or chinese style blades).

Otherwise, there should be a very small increase in shock resist and a small decrease in edge holding compared to 1080 or 1084 (which is why I like it for swords). (edited - I now see that thegeek574 already explained part of this).

Knives, I start tempering at 350F and work up to around 385F (between 375 and 400 for me puts edge in RC 58-60 range). In my oven, with the way I soak and quench in water or parks 50 or both.

Hope this helps.
Kevin
 
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