Heat after packing in an edge

hathegkla

hathegkla

Joined
Feb 3, 2010
Messages
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so I'm just getting started forging blades. the only info I'm really working with is what I've read in the stickeys, wikipedia and an old copy of "the complete bladesmith". I'm trying to understand how to properly pack in the blade. my question is how much you can heat a blade once you start working it sub critical? is this something I should be doing just before I normalize, grind and heat treat or can the benefits survive a few full heats?

What's confusing me is I've done some sheet metal work in the past, and every time I work hardened a piece I either did a half ass annealing or normalized it before I could continue cold working. it really seemed to me that once I heated a piece of metal above critical all of the work hardening was gone so how could this process survive the initial hardening process?
 
Edge packing is a myth. Dont put the hammer to the steel unless it is hot enough. Keep reading through those stickies. Basically it goes something like this.

Forge (at proper temp)
Grind or file, or go with a forged finish... whatever is your deal.
Normalize (do this even if you dont forge)
Heat treat
Temper
Finish
Cut stuff
 
thanks. that's really what I was thinking (and I am working on reading all the stckeys, I'm getting there). I spent a good day reading about iron and steel and just couldn't figure out how work hardening steel could do much for it after it had been heat treated (or just heated above critical and cooled). though this old Russian machinist I work with says he knew a knifemaker that would only work harden the utility knives he made and never heat treated them lol. I'm guessing he was probably working with lower carbon steel.
 
Edge Packing is a Myth !! Some tools like scythes are sometimes still work hardened .Yes they are lower carbon steels.
 
like what was said above, Edge packing is balderdash. Anytime you work a tool steel below forging temps you risk microcracks which will show up after heat treat

-Page
 
Pretty sure my mother mentioned edge packing was practiced during the iron age. Most likely a wives tail. :D
 
lol, thanks for the info. its still mentioned in some old books. I'll just keep working above critical and make things easier on myself.
 
Hello:

I have been doing sub-critical forging of simple steels (like the 10XXseries, W1, W2 and the old WHC if you can still find a piece or two) for about 40 years and never had any problem with grain growth, cracking or anything else..Now high alloy stuff...that's different, totally different set of rules on those. Those need to be hotter.

I started doing this that way because that was the way I was taught by Herr Hauffmann when I was a kid, and I still do it. "Edge Packing" is an old term that was used to refer to making the edge thinner, ie..you "pack it down"..so I was told...

But I am just an old man working out of his back yard so I don't know about all these new fangled alloys that are always popping up...If I can't do it with 1095, L-6 or 5160 I ain't gona do it...

NVHammerHead
 
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