Extreme tempering also known as oops

SVanderkolff

SVanderkolff

Joined
Oct 31, 2002
Messages
979
I just realized that I had left my blade in the tempering oven for the last eight hours. Anyone have any idea what this will do to a blade. It is Alabama Damascus 3/16 thick left in a 375 oven for 8 hours. I will run it through the hardness tester and see what that says. What do you think the result will be?
Stuve
 
There will be a very small decrease in hardness. I was reading the Verhoeven book last night, and was looking at the comparison graphs. :)
 
If you look at the charts you can roughly figure how much difference it made but temperature is the major factor. Time is a distant second.
 
I had a blade (80CrV2) that warped in the quench. It took me 9 two hour temper cycles to get it all straightened. All cycles were 350˚. I went to see my teacher who is an ABS Mastersmith and asked him if there was any decrease in hardness or other detrimental effects. He said, "nah, it's fine".
 
Nah, its fine.

I did some calculations a few years back when someone left the blade in the oven overnight. A 10° increase in temperature is about the same effect as 10 hours in the oven on the hardness. That will be about 1 point Rockwell for most carbon steels. Toughness may be increased a tad by the longer temper.
 
Nah, it is fine :)

Getting hundreds of hours - that would be extreme tempering :D
 
What did the hardness tester say?

8 hrs at 375 should not be a problem at all, assuming the oven is accurate.
 
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