Cold Steel Hawk Heat Treat.

[Chris Pierce]

So i'm not sure if i should put this here or in Maintenance, Tinkering & Embellishment....

Anyway, taking a look at my Cold Steel Hawk today I noticed that the blade aint quite straight. Its not the grind thats off, but the blade looks cuped almost.

So i was wondering if i could heat the blade up with a oxy/propane torch and pound it flat and then reheattreat it? Or would it even be worthwhile to do something like that?

Thanks for the help.

 

[MoxemDel]

You can, and with caution you will be successful. I havent tried to burn the paint off...but if you dont and it flakes, you will pound the paint into the steel creating some what of a pitting effect. I digress.

Heat it up with your OxyAce rig, but not hot enough to get sparks flying. When you hit a good glowing red/almost orange, you will have taken the temper out and annealed the hawk. Keep your hawk in the "orangish" range while "forging" and dont go past a bright orange...that is to say dont burn the steel by getting to yellow in color or actually "cut" it.

Go preheat your oven...or bring your toaster oven to your work area and fire it up to 300 degrees.

Once you have your hawk in the shape needed/wanted, heat it up again to a good cherry red. At this state, about 1470 degrees, your hawk should not be magnetic (use an extendable magnet to check). It is at this temp. that you'll want to immediately quench it in old motor oil, olive oil, veggie oil, tranny fluid, or prefereably a quenching oil.

Since the steel is 1055 medium carbon, you will want to now temper the steel after you hardened (quenched) it. Wipe the oil off of your hawk and throw it into your PREHEATED oven at 300 degrees for one hour.

The only real way to screw up your hawk is to burn the steel. If you actually begin to "cut" the steel with your torch, it will be decarbourized, and no good as a cutting implement.

I hope that this helps.