D-2 planer blades

clint c

clint c

Joined
Aug 21, 2001
Messages
397
I have come into a supply of planer blades that have been confirmed as D-2 (through research). The blades are annealed by heating to 1800 degrees and holding for two hours, then cooling in the oven for 24 hours. They RC at 25 at this point. To heat treat, they are brought up to 1850 degrees for 20 minites, then air quenched. At this point, they register 63 RC in the ricasso area, but 53-55 further down the blade towards the edge. They are then tempered at 400 for two hours twice, giving a 59-60 in the ricasso area, and 52-53 towards the edge. Anyone else ever have a similar experience? Turko oil is being used(as opposed to foil), and ATS-34 and 440C blades seem to turn out nicley from the same oven.
 
clint, you can get some good feedback if you move this to the next forum down. shoptalk.
 
Welcome to the forum Clint. It's nice someone does their research. I had a bunch of them and got so mad trying to work em, I threw them in the junk box :o :mad:
 
It looks like you have done everything right for D2 but i would check and make sure your temp is correct, sounds like they were overheated.. then again it may be a varation of D2 .experiment, it would be a shame to throw them out....
 
Hi Clint are those the Progresive No. 6 blades? They are the most common in the western planer mills . They have .86 %carbon and I believe 12 1/2 % crome. As they are they cn be ground to make a reasonable knife but not ot the quality either 440-C or ATS34 will produce. They can be legitimately called D-2 but not the same as you can buy for knife making at supply houses. D-2 can come in 57 varietys. Ground as they are you will find that even though they Rockwell less than a good hardness for 440-C they are brittle and hard to sharpen. If they were given the cryogenic treatment their edge holding characteristics improve noticably. Just macking a lower Rockwell blade does not mean that it will automaticly be easier to sharpen- carbide size has very much to do with this also.Frank Niro
 
Thanks, Frank. As a matter of fact they are Progressive No. 6 planer blades. I went through a bunch of Sawmill supply places until I found who sold this variety, and got a product description that indicated they were D-2. I didn't realize there were 57 varieties of the stuff! Have you had one of these blades analyzied, or where did you determine the actual percentages of carbon etc. for these particular blades? Have you re-heat treated them? With cryro-treatment, was liquid nitrogen used, or do you suppose dry ice and alcohol at -107 degrees wiould do the trick? Lots of questions for you, but you seem familiar with the subject.
 
Clint

One thing you my to try before throwing the material away would be a 900-950 degree temper. D-2 tool Steel has a secondary hardening curve. What may have happened is a delayed quench and you have a large amount of retained austenite.

D-2 material is an Air-Hardening steel but does require a fast quench to achive full transformation.

Also the anneal temp of 1800 degrees seems a little high, if I recall from years ago we annealed at 1600 degrees then dropping 100 degrees per hour to 1000 then air cooled.

Darrell Lewis
Bodycote
 
Clint, The info. I had came from Progressive at one time. I have however lost the actual info. slip. I'm sure that if you were to contact the company explain why you want the info. and they will tell you. It certainly isn't a hidden secret. However, I think you are wasting your time and money playing with this stuff. Why not get a hold of supplier Jim Downie here in Canada. He will sell you at very good market prices some ATS34 or 440-C and will also get it properly heat and freeze treated for you after you have ground it out. He will sell small quantities- probably even just a foot. Also as well as this GREAT forum Jim will be happy to try to help you in any way with how to do it info also. He has a web site but it does not go direct to him and I find terrible to get around in, so here is his phone no. 519-243-2290 where he his most happy to take orders or help with info. He lives in Ontario. Regards and hope this was a help and not a kick. Frank Niro.
 
Strange thing is I took a planer blade put it in my kitchen oven on 550 degrees for four hours then let it slow cool in the oven.
I made a throwing knife out of it and sent it to a guy that threw it over 150 time so far and hasnt broke yet
 
Thanks for your help, Frank, and everyone else who chipped in. I can appreciate that ATS-34 is a great steel, and have had excellent results with it. However, I figured these planer blades to be a cheap and good quality blade stock, and so experimented, hence my questions. I'll probably try a few more blades from the stuff, and add a cryrotreatment to the process and see what those results are. In the mean time, I just got my 30 ton forging press built, so Hi-Ho Damascus! The great thing about this pastime is the endless experimenting and multitude of variety of what you can do. If only we could could come up with more time to do it in! Thanks again.
 
Hey Clint I'm retired and I still don't have enough time for knife making. So you are going to the forging thing!! Super!!. Not for me but I am looking to purchase some good carbon steel damascus for folder blades and bolsters. Probably about 120 folds for bolsters and 320 or so for blades. (that may not work out but I did say about) I do want to buy in Canada and I do want to pay a competitive price.If someone can help me its niro@telus.net Thanks. Frank Niro
 
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