Can I get a steel recommendation?

Nick EBK

Nick EBK

Joined
Nov 25, 2015
Messages
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So, I mustered my 2015 savings and ordered an Evenheat KH418 with tap controller. I have some 1084 left, and I'm excited to see any differences in my forge HT vs what the oven will do. However, Its almost time to order more steel, and I suppose I can order more complex steel now. I want to try both a stainless, and a hyper eutectoid carbon steel. I would really appreciate y'alls input on what I should look at, and why. 99% of my knives are bushcraft style full tang knives in 1/8, though I just tried a 1/4 camp knife, and I like that feel too.

Thanks guys.
 
W2, S35VN, and aeb-l are at the top of my steel list every order.
 
Awesome, I'm almost certainly going to order some AEB-L. So let me get this straight, I'm going to
1 bring blade solidly up to 1560f, and equalize by letting it soak for 2 hours. (is 2 hours overkill?)
2 bring temp up to 1995f and hold for 5 minutes. (How long should it take to ramp, just as quickly as the oven heats up?)
3 remove blade and oil quench (will canola work, or does it have to be quench oil?) or air quench (sandwich clamp it between two pieces of steel, and hang them in front of a fan?).
4 Home cryo treat in a mixture of denatured alcohol/dry ice
5 double temper for 2 hours at 450f.

More questions:
Do I have to SS foil wrap?
Is the Evenheat suitable for tempering?

Thanks for the help!
 
Use foil, and dry ice slurry is fine. Air cool, or quench between two aluminum plates. I don't use the kiln for tempering. I've heard that they aren't accurate at lower temps, but haven't checked this myself.

There is a great thread by Devon T on heat treating aeb-l this past week. Lots of great info there.
 
Thanks a ton guys, that about spells it out for me. Only question I now have: after shaping, putting in bevels, drilling pin holes, etc. Will I have to normalize like I would with 1084?
 
I don't think you'd want to grind bevels before HT when doing plate quench, which is as I understand recommended for AEB-L.
 
Use good ceramic belts. For hunters and such, grind near to finished dimensions. For thin kitchen knives, profile, then grind post heat treat. Thin chefs knives can warp like crazy. Plate quenching saves a lot of headaches for those knives. Remember to drill any holes needed before heat treat.

Edit: no normalizing needed. Follow the heat treat recipe as described by Devin T, and you are good to go. I have used the temp/time listed on the AKS website, and have had great results with that too. Stay at Rc62, no need to go any softer.
 
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