Damascus HT Help

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colu41

colu41

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So I finished my forge build last week, and had a good 5 days off of work so I ended up forging my billet & blade of damascus. Its 1095 & 15n20.

I heat treated it tonight, and it didn't seem to work. I preheated the oven to 1500, let it equalize for about 20 minutes. I then put the blade in, and soaked for 15 minutes, and then immediately quenched in 120* canola.

A 55rc test file dug right in.

Did I do something wrong? Or am I going to need to normalize the steel or something after forging?

Anyways here it is. Turned out pretty nice for my first ever piece of forged steel :) I just hope I can get the HT figured out on this 1095 otherwise I'll have to go to the trusty 1084 for damascus.

oanngg.jpg
 
Your HT sounds good, but you will definitely want to do a normalizing, reducing heat thermal cycling. Lots of heat and grain growth with that kinda heat. Are you sure you got through the decarb also?
 
Cody Hofsommer said:
Your HT sounds good, but you will definitely want to do a normalizing, reducing heat thermal cycling. Lots of heat and grain growth with that kinda heat. Are you sure you got through the decarb also?
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With the file you mean? I was actually just thinking about that. Now that I think about it, I think this has happened to me before. I'll have to give it a quick sand and test it again tomorrow. I'll probably have to anneal anyways since I didn't temper it after hardening.
 
Grind it clean and I bet it is a lot harder.

As I said in my email, all forged steel benefits from a normalization and grain refinement series of cycles.
 
i'm also for grinding to the hard steel benheat the decarburized layer.
Normalizing + grain refining is mandatory after any forging, but bear in mind that missed step is not the culprit here....infact a coarse grain structure has higher hardenability over a fine one.
 
I'll add my vote as well....check for decarb. 90% of the time that's the culprit. Since this was forged, my brain tells me you already knew to normalize and thermal cycle. Normalizing and subsequent thermal cycling would be a must after forging, and all of it protected from decarb somehow or another. Was helping another gent across the pond, decarb wasn't the issue. Turned out he was using an N type thermo couple instead of the K type he needed. Temps were 100F off.
 
"...... Since this was forged, my brain tells me you already knew to normalize and thermal cycle. ....."

Nope, he is brand new and moving too fast. He doesn't know about the decarb and about normalization cycles. Walk before you run isn't his long suit :)
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
"...... Since this was forged, my brain tells me you already knew to normalize and thermal cycle. ....."

Nope, he is brand new and moving too fast. He doesn't know about the decarb and about normalization cycles. Walk before you run isn't his long suit :)
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I can agree with that :cool:
 
colu41 said:
I'll do a little more research before I start my next billet
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Hey, you're doing GREAT with that billet of Damascus. Do you have a press or power hammer? OR - was that "arm" hammer? Congrat s ona good billet there. Did you figure out the HT yet? While normalizing, etc are needed for a fine grain, it should still harden with coarse grain.

Ken H>
 
Ken H> said:
Hey, you're doing GREAT with that billet of Damascus. Do you have a press or power hammer? OR - was that "arm" hammer? Congrat s ona good billet there. Did you figure out the HT yet? While normalizing, etc are needed for a fine grain, it should still harden with coarse grain.

Ken H>
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Thanks Ken! Yes it was done with the good ole arm hammer! A 2 & 3 lbs cross peen a 1 lbs for touching up the blade shape.
 
stezann said:
Another point, where did you get that billet? are you sure it is 1095/15n20?
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I made the billet myself.

And I do believe the HT is ok. I went back out and rechecked with a file and a 65rc was skating on the edge so at least something was done right.
 
How could a person possibly know how to forge a billet of damascus and know nothing about normalizing???
 
canola oil won't cool the 1095 fast enough to get full hardness. you can get decent results but won't reach full potential. just something to keep in mind while you are figuring thing out.
 
JeridJohnson said:
canola oil won't cool the 1095 fast enough to get full hardness. you can get decent results but won't reach full potential. just something to keep in mind while you are figuring thing out.
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Yes I'm looking into quenching oils. Just not sure what I want to do yet.
 
Does someone have pics of their oil and quench setup? If I spend the money on Parks I want a good setup for it. I have another 2 gallon crock pot that I could use but, it's not good for blades with 6 inch or bigger blades.
 
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