Did I kill my steel?

Salem you posted right as I did so I missed your post there too. I do have some 1" mild round that I used previously as a heat sink for evening out heat in my forge when I used to heat treat with my forge/muffle, but I haven't used it for a while, it was just one 12" piece and it's still there. I'm positive that I didn't use it for this one, the only other 1" stock I have is this steel and some 52100(SUJ2).

I'll go try filing into the spine now close to the tip where there was no clay and see if here was any hardness there as well, I'll post the result :)

Ah...another Verhoeven text I didn't know about! I will most definitely check that out, this subject of carbon loss has really intrigued me...thanks for that :)
 
W1 can be very shallow hardening. Another member couldn't harden W2 in haughton K oil. If the manganese is on the lower end of the scale, your oil might not be fast enough. Try brine quenching and see if it hardens.
 
Just went and tried the spine in 2 spots and then filed off the tip. This thing has a little bit of hardness in it, like it's not super easy to file, but it's still cutting in way too easy. Here's a pic.
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Willie that's a good call - I'll try the brine. The knife is toast at this point, might as well figure out if that's the final thing that will do it.

I can't help but keep going back to the fact that so many people use this steel out here with Houghton's K. There are a surprising amount of talented bladesmiths here and they take their work super seriously and from what I know they all use that combo (btw fun tidbit,a lot of you guys are celebrities to them...Don Hanson, Nick Wheeler, Kurt Foster, Kyle Royer, Salem I've heard your name in there...it's a long list, they toss your names around like sports fans talking about favorite players).

Regarding this steel, I take a lot of advise from a friend of mine out here who is quite a talented bladesmith and he's always just recommended the fast oil, never brine, but at this point, I've got nothing to lose! I'll give it a try.
 
The haughton oil is just a bit slower than parks 50, and this steel needs a fast quench. If the manganese is closer to 0.5% than 0.2%, haughton will probably be fast enough. As the manganese level goes lower, increased speed is needed.
 
Oh, also, JT, just in case you wanna try that test out...it also had the additional ramp down time of 10 hours from 1375 to 875 which may have been an added factor. Not super likely, and probably an expensive experiment so I'm not sure if you wanna do it, but just FYI in case you're thinking of trying that (I'd be interested for sure!)
 
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