First serious garage heat treat...

[CDH]

Whatcha think? These are made from the thin 1080 that Admiral Steel has had on closeout for a long time. It looked to be a good practice steel for some destructive testing...so here is the first batch. This pic was after the third try...I kept heating it a bit more red to finally hit red-orange each cycle to creep up on the critical temp.

I'm using the faster of the McMaster quench oils. Hopefully for this thin of stock (.1-.125") it'll harden through. I dunk the blade end (you can see the line) only, let it cool to black plus a half minute or so, and pull it out to air cool the rest of the way.

First question: Is the amount of scale that sloughs off a decent indicator of at least being fully critical when it hits the oil?

Now for some serious testing!

 

[Patrickknives]

Looks good but looks dont count for much, does it skate a file?? Did you temper? If not they will be really brittle, need to temper at about 400 f for 2 hours, usually 2 times letting cool to room temp in between. Next time drill the pin holes first, save alot of grief, good luck.

Sharpen one and cut some rope and see how it does, will it hold and edge??