D2 tempering instuctions??

jaegar

jaegar

Joined
Nov 5, 2004
Messages
280
Well, I didn't get a response from my other thread, but that's cuz it didn't have a topic pointed towards that. I'm thinking about tempering my boot knife I just made, although I don't know what steel it is. It's made from a planer blade, and I'm guessing it is D2. If anyone can tell me how to temper it in a standard houshold oven to 59-60 Rc, I'd be much obliged.

~Brian.

If Pictured would help, I have them, I didn't think they would be needed.
 
Do two tempers at 400°F for a minimum of two hours each.

D2 is a complex alloy and needs this as a minimum. Also make sure you get it hardened in the correct range. depending on the steel manufacturer, the range is from 1810°F to 1920°F with a long enough soak time.

We have had some discussion here on soak times, but no one has proposed less than 15 minutes and the mmanufacturers call for up to 60 minutes at the lowest temperatures..

D2 is an air quenching steel, but it works just fine with oil or plate quenches.

You might want to use a separate oven thermometer to double check the temperature.

Planar blades are also often HSS like M2 and that will require different heat treating, including 3 tempers at higher temperatures.
 
The problem is that It is already hardened. I didn't harden it, it just came that way. It is probably already tempered too, I just thought I might improve the temper.

Thanks for the help. :D

~Brian
 
A 400° temper won't hurt it, whether it is D2 or HSS. If you haven't hardened it it was most probably already tempered as a planer blade.

How difficult was it to grind?
 
Not too bad, which is strange for D2, so that makes me wary of that. It was about the same as some files I've ground. I can take a look at some sparks on another peice. They should look like stainless right??

~Brian
 
jaegar said:
Not too bad, which is strange for D2, so that makes me wary of that. It was about the same as some files I've ground. I can take a look at some sparks on another peice. They should look like stainless right??

~Brian
Click to expand...

I am not an expert on spark analysis. I have noticed that the higher alloys don't spark as easily as the simpler ones.

Did you use the whole piece on the blade? If you have some left, you might try heat treating a small piece.
 
I still have 2 more peices exactly the same, 6" long. Do you mean temper or Heat treat?? I don't have an oven to heat treat with, I'd have to use charcoal or coke or something.

~Brian
 
Is it a planer blade for a machine or hand plane . For a machine it might be M2 but for a hand plane W1, A2. Is it stainless ? D2 is at least semistainless.Since you reaslly don't know what it is , I'd leave it alone.
 
Machine, and it is stainless. I know it is stainless because of the sparks and it was in a guys shop for I dont know how long with no rust. He gave me some other stuff at the same time which I think is just as old, and the other stuff is covered in rust. So it is definately stainless, or stain resistant. (Like D2)

I haven't ever ground M2, is it relatively easy? If so, then that would make sense for this one. It wasn't overly easy, but didn't feel right for D2.

Thanks for the comments!

~Brian
 
I'm leaning towards leaving it alone, it has a so-so edge that seems to hold pretty well. I'm also pretty sure that I didn't burn the temper while grinding. Thanks for the help. :)

~Brian
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top