Can I home heat treat A-2?

[Chiro75]

Tollanddie.com sent me the wrong steel in my last order, and I ended up with 1/4" A-2 when I asked for 1/8" O1. Can I heat treat this myself at home? I have a small forge, no temperature control/thermometers on it, so it's by eye/with a magnet. I'd just as soon do a complete heat treat on it and not mess with differentially treating this stuff. If I can do it at home, what would be my "recipe" for heating it, quenching and tempering? If I can't do anything with this stuff, I'll just ship it back to them.

 

[Raymond Richard]

If I remember A-2 needs to soak at 1750 for 10 to 20 minutes depending on the thickness of the steel. You could probably do it with your little forge but it wouldn't be right.

 

[Chiro75]

Ah. Forget it! I'll send it back. I looked up the price, too, and the piece of steel they sent me in error was $25 or so, whereas the piece of steel I paid for was $9.75, so it wouldn't be right to keep it, anyway.