Tim Pollack
Basic Member
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2012
- Messages
- 214
Do contestants have any say on the tempering temps?
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Blade steels on forged in fire
- Thread starter Shing
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2006
- Messages
- 3,158
Haha haha! Yes Count! I was thinking the same thing!!!! Legs of a pinball machine are “W-1 tool steel”. Haha haha! That’s some pinball machine! I bet the paddles are made out of Rex121. And the ball bearings are really Maxamet.
But as far as tempering goes.....they now always mention that the contestants blades are tempered. What I have always wondered “what temperature are they tempered at???” Are the contestants told what temperature the tempering will be done? Or do they not know? I would DEMAND to know what temperature was being used. They’re giving them the alloy to use after all. They would need to know the tempering temperature in order to austenitize correctly (within a window of hardening temps anyway, but still.....I get the show is more about entertainment rather than perfection of the craft)
But then again, 95% of the contestants don’t seem to have a clue when it comes to the austentizing/quenching part of the process. Checking for hardness when the blade is still red, etc. Straightening is another area where most don’t seem to get it.
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2006
- Messages
- 2,506
There are some first-round challenges that seed good steel into the mix that would otherwise have very limited usable parts, such as the aforementioned pinball machine or the cannon episode where the axle was W1 or W2 (can't recall off the top of my head).
The contestants are in control of their first-round thermal cycling (I did three cycles each on two my two push knives) and hardening (my second push knife warped several times despite my best efforts and was straightened and re-quenched), but the ABS judge is the one who does the tempering for all the contestants, using digital furnaces literally behind the scenery. The thermal cycling and hardening are done by eye with a very hot gas forge, of course.
On the home challenge, you are given steel that you are not required to use. I still have my chunk of 5160 because I used my own 80CrV2 to build my katzbalger. I'll make something special from it some day. I like 5160.
You are entirely in charge of your own heat treatment on the home challenge.
5160 is plenty tough for every final challenge that I can recall seeing on the show. A lot of folks stake their chances of winning on an old leaf spring, and a lot of those folks end up as champions.
The contestants are in control of their first-round thermal cycling (I did three cycles each on two my two push knives) and hardening (my second push knife warped several times despite my best efforts and was straightened and re-quenched), but the ABS judge is the one who does the tempering for all the contestants, using digital furnaces literally behind the scenery. The thermal cycling and hardening are done by eye with a very hot gas forge, of course.
On the home challenge, you are given steel that you are not required to use. I still have my chunk of 5160 because I used my own 80CrV2 to build my katzbalger. I'll make something special from it some day. I like 5160.
You are entirely in charge of your own heat treatment on the home challenge.5160 is plenty tough for every final challenge that I can recall seeing on the show. A lot of folks stake their chances of winning on an old leaf spring, and a lot of those folks end up as champions.