Best alternate 1095 HT

Greenberg Woods

Greenberg Woods

Joined
Dec 27, 2013
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2,694
Hey again! I got some 1095 as a very thoughtful gift from a friend, but I dont have any parks 50 or equivalent. From what i have read, i can either go canola or brine for a sub par heat treat, but im not sure what the tempers would be after that. Thoughts? Should I oil quench to keep the risk of breaking low and give a light temper? Or risk the cracks for a harder blade in a brine quench? Thanks guys.
 
For a 1095 blade with thickness 1/8-3/32, you could quench in brine for 3 seconds, then quench in warm canola for the next 6-9 seconds. Remove, take a look, if warp, straighten with gloves, otherwise air cool below 100F. Wash in cold-water. 2 x temper at 400F, minimum 1hr/each.
 
No, it's spine thickness. Where edge thickness nominally around 0.04-0.03". In the case of FFG and edge thickness 0.01-0.015 (way too thin, even for parks50), then quench in warm 140F canola, you might get good edge hardness & a few rc softer spine.

hellspawn415 said:
Is that thickness at the edge?
Click to expand...
 
I've been having good results with canola heated to around 130F. It may not be getting the full potential hardness of 1095 but unless you are going for a super hard edge (64+ Rc) you just have to find the temper temperature that gives the hardness you want.

Making up a few test blades out of the scraps is easy and you can temper them differently to find the sweet spot. I found 400F to be maybe a little harder than I wanted for a kitchen knife.
 
How much control over the temperature do you have? Are you willing to experiment, or are you just making some blades for fun? When you said alternate, I thought you were looking for something out of the ordinary.
 
I have as much control as someone with about 2 years of experience and a gas forge has. I certainly dont have a heat treating kiln "yet" but i do plan on experimenting. I was mainly looking for a starting point and plan on searching from there. Thanks
 
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