First heat treat success?

[MathieuJodoin]

Hey guys! I tried my first heat treat/ temper today with four blades all 1084. My question is should the file still skate once tempered? Less than after the quench but still feels like it is.

I heated my canola oil to 140f then brought my steel to non magnetic and then to a bright red before the quench. They all came out without any wraps and skated the file. I then tempered all four at 400f for 2hours twice.

Any advice is appreciated
Thanks

 

[TheEdge01]

Hey guys! I tried my first heat treat/ temper today with four blades all 1084. My question is should the file still skate once tempered? Less than after the quench but still feels like it is.

I heated my canola oil to 140f then brought my steel to non magnetic and then to a bright red before the quench. They all came out without any wraps and skated the file. I then tempered all four at 400f for 2hours twice.

Any advice is appreciated
Thanks

Depends on how hard your file is. I’ve seen files as low as 57 hrc before. If your file bites in a little bit after tempering, I would say your good to go.

 

[DevinT]

Bright red is too hot.

Hoss

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I agree with Devin's comment. Bright red is too hot. Also, 120-130°F is a better temperature for the canola oil.

Once you reach non-magnetic you want to heat the blade just a bit hotter ... about 50°F more. That is just a half shade redder. It should look medium reddish.
If you have a friend with a HT oven, have him heat a few bars of steel to 1475°F so you can get a good idea of what that looks like.

Be aware that the amount of ambient light affects how red or bright the blade looks. HTing in the driveway on a sunny day may make 1700°F look barely red. HTing in the evening or under a smithy roof may let you see dull red at 1250°F. Getting some Templi-stixs to learn what the colors look like in your setup and location is a good idea. Try three sticks at 1375/1475/1575. That should show you what too low, just right, and too high look like.