-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is available! Price is $250 ea (shipped within CONUS).
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/
Bit hardness
- Thread starter Maine20
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2008
- Messages
- 26,265
Since that's where the metal is thinnest, it's not surprising. Especially if on an axe that has seen some use so you've worked into a region that was even thicker when new.
Square_peg
Gold Member
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2012
- Messages
- 13,854
Is the hardness deep or just surface hardness? You could be dealing with the oxidation layer.
Not oxidation, I thought it was at first but I am well past that now.
QUOTE="FortyTwoBlades, post: 18112511, member: 222280"]Especially if on an axe that has seen some use so you've worked into a region that was even thicker when new.[/QUOTE]
That is a rarely discussed factor plain carbon steel alloys are poor(-er) at "through hardening",and can harden differentially during the normal HT,the deeper parts of the edge remaining softer.
However,a number of other factors may be involved,like a careless HT sequence,or possibly a de-carb via C migration,diffusion of carbon into the lower-C body underneath,on some thinner parts of an overlayed bit,or some other cause of uneven distribution of C throughout alloy)
(or is the axe worn clear into it's unhardenable body,in places?)
That is a rarely discussed factor plain carbon steel alloys are poor(-er) at "through hardening",and can harden differentially during the normal HT,the deeper parts of the edge remaining softer.
However,a number of other factors may be involved,like a careless HT sequence,or possibly a de-carb via C migration,diffusion of carbon into the lower-C body underneath,on some thinner parts of an overlayed bit,or some other cause of uneven distribution of C throughout alloy)
(or is the axe worn clear into it's unhardenable body,in places?)
Last edited:
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2016
- Messages
- 1,929
it could have been quenched fairly "cold" (enough to get the job done but not hard and the heel and toe would have heated faster, subsequently getting hotter and quenching a bit harder
It’s a mono steel head, 2 pound gambles artisan with eye ridges. The temper line is almost 2” back from the edge. At this point I am not overly considered, the “softer” section seems comparable to other axes I have worked on. I guess we’ll see....hopefully the heal/toe don’t chip.
Square_peg
Gold Member
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2012
- Messages
- 13,854
You could leave them with a little thicker bevel. I do this habitually. It doesn't affect the cut much as most of the cutting is happening in the middle. You give up a tiny bit of speed for durability.