First Heat Treat

T

TATTOOMAN

Joined
Dec 2, 2005
Messages
86
Found Out This Weekend That Charcoal Or Propane Will Not Get 1/8"
O1 Tool Steel To Nonmagnetic. I Got It Cherry Red And Quenched
In Some Preused Motor Oil And Then Put It In The Toaster Oven For
An Hour At 400f. I Sanded To 320 And Buffed With E5 And Some
Green High Gloss. It Still Has A Few Scratches But Not Bad.
Im Going To Finish It As Is With Purpleheart Scales And 1/4" Mosaic Pins And Brass Thong Hole. Hope To Finish This Coming Up Weekend.
I Have One More Blade Patterned Out And Ready To Grind. Any
Suggestions On A Cheap Way To Heat Up To Nonmagnetic This Time? Any Comments Welcome.
Thanks, Randy
 
i just did my first heat treat this weekend also on some 01, mine was thicker then yours and had no problem bringing up to non magnetic. Cheap easy for me was one brick forge, think that is about the easist and cheapest way of doing it. i also used the small propane torchout lined in wayne goodards book.
 
Use mapp gas. its the yellow bottle. For larger blades, you will need some kind of forge to keep the heat up over the length.
 
Chunk or natural charcoal (not briquettes) will work but it needs additional oxygen to get there. If you don't have or don't want to build an airsource for charcoal use the 1brick forge.
 
I would suggest that you temper at least around 460o, for three one hour heats. Cooling to room temp in between. You can use a Hibachi with forced air from a hair dryer if you blow it through an iron pipe to one side of the charcoal. Be sure to use an oven thermometer when you temper. Very few ovens are really accurate to their setting.
 
Use a file to test that your blade got hard (it should be difficult to get a file to bite) and that it got tempered (the file should be able to file the spine some.

You need some forced air to get a charcoal fire really hot. A pistol-style hair dryer or heat gun with a steel extension tube (so that the tip of the blower doesn't melt) works well.
 
Successfully Got Blade To Nonmagnetic Today Using Mapp Gas
And A Double Head Torch. Quenched In Used Motor Oil. Im In The
Middle Of First Temper, And 2 To Go. Thanks For All The Advice
And Info. Hopefully It Paid Off. Thanks, Randy
 
Adding the hollowed out fire brick to your mapp gas torch will go a long way. It helps concentrate the heat and will heat the blade much more evenly than the torch used alone in a open setting.

Crucible recommends tempering at 400 degrees for two hours twice.

I recently learned that time from fire to quench is critical as well. Blades that went in teh quench in a few seconds came back at RC58 after temper. A blade that took 30 - 45 seconds to get in the oil only ended up at RC46!
 
also, when the steel looks "wet" its ready to quench :) Thats what I look for and have good luck since I have added more soak time as well.
 
Quench Was Immediatly Off The Fire, In Oven For First Temper
Within 1 Min. I Let The Blade Cool Down To Touch And Repeated
2 More Times. I've Sanded To 400 And Buffed Out To A Nice Mirror
Finish With Minimal Scrath Showing. I Am Pleased With Results
From Only Hving Minimal Equipment To Work With. I've Also
Shaped The Scales(purpleheart) And They Are Ready For Epoxy
After I Clean The Tang Up Which I Hope To Have It All Glued Together Tomorrow And Start On Finish Sand And Seal By Tuesday.
What Does It Take To Post Pictures? Or Will Anybody Be
Interested In Posting Some For Me If I Email Them To You.
Thanks For All The Help, Randy Roberts
 
Got My Scales Shaped And Sanded To 400 Grit Yesterday, And
Epoxied To The Blade. Removed Clamps This Morning And Everything
Looked Good. A Little Light Sanding And Buffing This Afternoon
And Sharpening And My First Hand Made Knife Will Be Finished.
I Plan On Going To The Blade Show In Atlanta, I Might Bring It With
Me And Get Critiqued By Somebody Who Knows What They're Doing.
Do You Haft To Have A Knife Maker Membership To Post Pics?
Thanks, Randy Roberts:d
 
hp2spare, a one brick forge is made from soft fire brick. you core out about a 2" hole down the length of the brick in the center, to insert blade, make a small hole in the side for a mapp torch and a small hole exiting the end of the brick to help reduce the heat coming out the front and that olso helps to evenly heat the blade.
 
Thanks! Does anyone have a recommendation on which MAPP torch to acquire? What's the best source of fire brick large enough to punch a 2" hole into?
 
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