Hand Plane Temper

T.Saslow

T.Saslow

Periodic Thinker
Joined
Jun 12, 2013
Messages
479
I have been working on making a small hand plane and I just got the blade made. I used 1084 from NJ Steel Baron. As you can see in the picture, I decided to do a clay hammon just for fun and I think for a third attempt, it is pretty nice (the first two I used oil as a quenching medium). After the quench, I tempered at 420 for 1 hour and quenched in water. I have no way of knowing what the harness is (no harness files and I don't want to use an industrial hardness tester with a diamond tip). Considering this isn't going to be battoning any logs or chopping down trees, I wanted to leave this blade a bit harder than normal at around 59 RC. Having never done much experimentation in terms of temper recipes, I don't know how to go about tempering this. Keeping in mind that I have already tempered at 420*F for 1 hour, what do you all think would bring me to an ideal hardness for this blade?



Thanks for your time!
Tanner S.
 
Well, A few things i would comment on.

First off, 59 isnt very hard at all. When I make chisels out of W2 I take them to 62, hell my kitchen knives are at 62 HRC. 59 might be hard for a camp knife, but a plane blade should be up around 61-62. To get that, I would do an oil quench and do two tempers for 2 hours each at 370, giving you about 62 HRC.

Second, 1084 takes a very poor hamon. Its a relativly deep hardening steel, a quality which makes it very easy to heat treat. You want a shallow hardening steel like W2 or 1095 for hamons, and it just so happens those two along with O1 are great steels for planes and chisels.
 
As noted, 1084 isn't the steel of choice for a plane blade. It will work, but may need re-sharpening more often. Rc 60 would be my target, which is a temper of 400F. Your 420F temper is fine for a Rc 59-60 hardness.

On the next blade use W2 or 1095 and do a quench in fast oil. Temper twice for an hour each at 420 for a RC62 plane iron.

Forget the hamon unless this is just for fun. A plane iron needs the best hard edge it can get. Japanese plane irons are make from White Paper steel and water quenched.
 
Yes, This is just for Fun :) Since I used water to quench, what do you think my initial RC was post quench? And do you think I'm at the right hardness now after that 1 hour temper or should I keep going for another hour?
Thanks for letting me know about the poor steel choice. It only gives me an excuse to get some W2 at long last ;)
Tanner S.
 
With tempering, the time in the oven isn't nearly as important as the temp. I know guys who have left knives in the oven for hours and not even lost a full point of hardness.

And you really should. The more I work with W2 the more I like it. I have a few bars fro. Aldo, and 30 or so rounds of Don'so W2.

P.S if you plan on making a full plane, shoot me a pm.
 
That for A Krenov style plane? I made an iron for that type plane out of 1/4" O1, extra thick so I didn't use a chip breaker..I heat treated it to 62rc and its never chipped. We make a lot of woodworking tools and they usually get heat treated to about 62rc..
 
I may have to experiment on this one. The great thing about planes is that you can switch out the iron easily. I'll make a few more blades for this one and see how each performs. I may have to try out tome new steels on it as well. This will be a fun project :D
 
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