Annealing D-2?

Chiro75

Chiro75

Joined
Feb 4, 1999
Messages
5,786
Okay...well, it seems that a consensus is coming about that the D-2 I ordered isn't annealed. If it is, I will give up on knifemaking much sooner than anticipated! :-) So, how does one go about annealing an air-hardening steel, then? I have some stock coming in from TKS, so it will be interesting to compare them.

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My Custom Kydex Sheath pagehttp://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/knifehome.html
Palmer College of Chiropractic
On Two Wheels
 
Air hardening steel has to be process annealed or the structure will be really off and you won't get the proper structure when rehardened.
It is a real pain to do at home but this is the how to.
Heat to 1650F hold for 2hr
cool at 25F per hr to around 1000F
then furnace or are cool to room temp.
I doing this from memory so the temps mite be off a few deg but this is how it's done.




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Edward Randall Schott
Knifemaker
www.angelfire.com/ct/schottknives/index.html
edschott@javanet.com

 
Your memory is better than mine. All I recall is that it is pretty nearly impossible under back yard shop conditions.

Heat it up, bury it in some medium (ashes, vermiculite) that will force it to cool at a very slow rate. I recall that invoking one or more deities is recommended by some.

'tain't worth it.

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Regards,
Desert Rat



[This message has been edited by Desert Rat (edited 23 July 1999).]
 
If you pay the fright both ways and is worth
it to you. I'll do it for you non gratis.
shooot me an e-mail if your interested.
goshawk

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http://www.imt.net/~goshawk The race is not always to the swift, but he who hangs loose.
Don't walk in tradition just because it feels good!!!!!

 
Unless you've got some blades from a different batch than what I've been using, they are annealed. They just aren't all that easy to work, annealed or not. I quite trying to cut D-2 with a hacksaw after my first couple of blades, and use exclusively cutoff wheels in a die grinder or chop saw, and profile right on the belt sander.

Biggest difference I've found with the annealed stock is that once you cut about 90% of the way through the bar, you can just snap it off from there. On hardened stock, it isn't going anywhere, or will take a considerable bend before breaking.

The other way to tell is a simple file test. If you can file a notch in it with the edge of a flat file, then its annealed. If it was hardened, the file would skid right off it.

madpoet
 
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