Hello. I'm relatively new to knifemaking and 1084 steel is very difficult to get in my area (Ontario,Canada) for a good price, however O1 tool steel is highly available for fairly reasonable prices where I live. I was doing a lot of research on different methods of heat treating and such and I learned that regular table salt melts around 801C/1472F (Almost exactly the correct hardening temperature of O1) and I was wondering would it be feasible to use table salt to adjust my coffee can forge's temps with some tinkering and adjustment of my blow torch to properly soak O1 tool steel stock?
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Coffee Can Forge O1 heat treat
- Thread starter MG74
- Start date
Unless your forge is blown(adjustable air intake) real hard to hold a temp as o1 requires a 10 minute hold.
You can put a pipe(baffle) inside the forge and it will help but still very hard.
Have you looked at alpha knife supply? I’m pretty sure Chuck will ship to Canada and if you order a larger batch make it worth it shipping wise. He offers 1080+
You can put a pipe(baffle) inside the forge and it will help but still very hard.
Have you looked at alpha knife supply? I’m pretty sure Chuck will ship to Canada and if you order a larger batch make it worth it shipping wise. He offers 1080+
This is the site I’m talking about.
https://www.alphaknifesupply.com/shop/1080-carbon-steel
And a lot of those bars are $5-10
https://www.alphaknifesupply.com/shop/1080-carbon-steel
And a lot of those bars are $5-10
The shipping is even more expensive though and there’s a minimum order size of 50 dollars. Shipping to Canada from alphaknife supply to where I live is 60 dollars. I’d have to pay at the very least 110 CAD and I’d be spending more on shipping than the materials. I think I’m better off sticking to O1 for now because there’s a local guy who’ll sell it to me precision ground and I can pick it up myself. I don’t need to have the most effective heat treatment of o1 ever or anything like that.
I’m thinking of heating some pipe and coating the bottom of the pipe with table salt in my coffee can forge and using it as a muffle like I’ve seen Tai Goo do. I’m hoping if I get the pipe to just barely be melting the salt inside along the whole length of the pipe I’d get a good enough approximation of the temperature I’m looking for. I’d then take some test pieces of O1 and heat them in the pipe and allow them to soak for 10 minutes and then quench them in heated canola oil. After that I plan on breaking the scraps with a hammer to see if the imperfect soak caused any severe grain growth within the steel. If everything looks okay that should indicate that the heat treat is viable. I’m not looking to squeeze every ounce of performance out of the O1 but I’m hoping that with this method that the O1 will at the very least preform about as well as 1084. I’ve heard O1 is one of the most forgiving grades of steel when it comes to heat treating temps.
I’m thinking of heating some pipe and coating the bottom of the pipe with table salt in my coffee can forge and using it as a muffle like I’ve seen Tai Goo do. I’m hoping if I get the pipe to just barely be melting the salt inside along the whole length of the pipe I’d get a good enough approximation of the temperature I’m looking for. I’d then take some test pieces of O1 and heat them in the pipe and allow them to soak for 10 minutes and then quench them in heated canola oil. After that I plan on breaking the scraps with a hammer to see if the imperfect soak caused any severe grain growth within the steel. If everything looks okay that should indicate that the heat treat is viable. I’m not looking to squeeze every ounce of performance out of the O1 but I’m hoping that with this method that the O1 will at the very least preform about as well as 1084. I’ve heard O1 is one of the most forgiving grades of steel when it comes to heat treating temps.
I can't advise on the O1 since I've never done it myself, but I can comment on the muffle that Tai uses. I spent a few days working with Tai and he can control the temperature for a hold time incredibly well with a simple forge and muffle.
However I think one of the key elements is the burner he uses which is simply the weed burner you can get at HF. It has a dial valve which allows you to control the flame very accurately.
Of course it takes some practice and doing it a few times to understand how the whole process works.
However I think one of the key elements is the burner he uses which is simply the weed burner you can get at HF. It has a dial valve which allows you to control the flame very accurately.
Of course it takes some practice and doing it a few times to understand how the whole process works.
So would it be fair to say the general concept is feasible with the right burner and some experimentation? I think with the torch I've got I can probably tweak the flame enough to control the temps well enough get what I need. I'll give the whole process a try next weekend and report back on how it goes.
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2014
- Messages
- 244
I've done it. It works much better if you have a muffle and a thermocouple to watch the temp, but I'm guessing you're not going to be set up for that. Realistically, you can study color temperature charts, use a magnet to check for critical temp, and look for decalescence. Once you think you're at the right temp, manage your flame carefully and hold that temp as well as you can for 10 minutes. Then quench in canola or peanut oil. Oven temper 375-400 F for 1 hour x2. Sand off the decarb and check to see if your file skates.
This is obviously not going to give you a world champion knife, but it should give you something that will hold an edge reasonably well.
This is obviously not going to give you a world champion knife, but it should give you something that will hold an edge reasonably well.
- Joined
- May 6, 2009
- Messages
- 928
Im in Niagara what ive been doing is buying from Aldo shipping it to a warehouse across the border and driving it across your a little further away and i dont know if you have a care available to you but its worked well for me. if you want some more info about who i use more specifically or i want more details text me 289 687 4056 my names Anthony