Heat treat book?

Bruce Bump

Bruce Bump

Joined
Dec 2, 1999
Messages
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Ive been looking for a book with all the popular knife steels heat-treating specs. There must be one somewhere. If any of you guys have the info neatly compiled I am willing to pay. Bruce
 
I personally don't yet know anything about heat-treats, but I do know that there are several books available on the subject.

Practical Heat Treating by Howard E. Boyer (Sheffield's sells it for $97.00)

Heat Treater's Guide by Paul M. Unterweiser, Howard E. Boyer, and james J. Kubbs (Sheffield's sells this one for $235.00!)

I beieve that I have seen one or two more titles, I just don't remember where. You can check out the other knife supply houses and see what they carry in reference books or some of the larger tool firms, or do a web search. But I feel that most of the books on this subject will be like the ones above, not cheap! Because they are a specialized reference material that few people need they have a smaller print batch than your standard book, so understandingly, the price jumps up considerably.

Good luck and take care.

Andy
 
Ouch! I was thinking about $19.95. What I think I should do is pay Paul Bos visit with a bag of cookies. Bruce
 
Bruce maybe you can figure this chart out and use it.
Bruce
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/6383/hotchart.gif

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Bruce Evans Handcrafted Knives
The soul of the Knife begins in the Fire!!!!!
Member of,AKTI#A000223 and The American Bladesmith Society
asmallpicofbruceforforums.jpg


[This message has been edited by beknives (edited 03-15-2001).]
 
Burgon Tool Steel Inc., in Portsmouth, New Hampshire has a small booklet that they give out for free that covers the heat treatment of most popular tool steels. I refer to it quite frequently. I'll post their phone number later this evening, a web search may turn up a web site. Good outfit to do business with, they'll bend over backwards to help you with any need. 1-800-258-7106

[This message has been edited by x39 (edited 03-15-2001).]
 
The finest book on heat treating I have come across is "Heat Treatment, Selection, and
Application of Tool Steels," by Bill Bryson. It is carried by Brownell's and Centaur Forge, and you could probably get it from Amazon.com as well.

Although it does not cover all of the exotic stainless alloys used by knifemakers, it does provide solid, easily understood information on the HT process that can be applied to any steel.

Any steel supplier will provide you with a HT spec sheet for the particular product you are buying from them. That coupled with the information in this book makes the job almost foolproof.

Don Cowles
www.cowlesknives.com
 
The problem with HT information from steel suppliers and tool and die people is that they usually base there info on 1/2 X 1/2 inch steel bar. Its been a long time since I saw a knife that resembled a square steel bar. Even with simple carbon steel the soak times are way to long for the thin cross sections in a knife blade and lead to grain growth in the steel.
Bringing simple carbon steels to non magnetic then quenching produces a way better blade than any published mill data that I have ever seen.

------------------
Robert
Flat Land Knife Works
rdblad@telusplanet.net
http://members.tripod.com/knifeworks/index.html
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Bruce Bump:
Ive been looking for a book with all the popular knife steels heat-treating specs. There must be one somewhere. If any of you guys have the info neatly compiled I am willing to pay. Bruce</font>
Click to expand...

Hi Bruce,
Get yourself a copy of "Machinery's Handbook". Yes they are expensive, but they have a lot of information about different steels, heat treatment, steel properties, and steel selection for specific purposes. The book also has every chart and formula that you will ever need, like taps, drills, ect. A lot of times, you can find older editions at flea markets, and the information doesn't change that much. It will be a great reference for a bunch of stuff. You will find yourself reaching for it more that you can imagine.
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by R Dockrell:
I think maybe Paul should become a author. Who else has handled and given life to so may custom knives???
</font>
Click to expand...

I'd buy a book on heat treating knives by Paul Bos sight-unseen. There is a difference in factory instructions on heat treating chunks of metal (various sizes) and a knife blade (thin). Paul's specialty of knife blades is what I'd be interested in.

Problem is, I'd guess that he has a number of hard-won proprietary recipes that he'd be reluctant to divulge, even if near retirement since he may elect to sell the business to another.


 
I'm not a maker. Just an interested user and one of those data-hungry engineer types.

I will say, with that huge limitation for an introduction, that I didn't find Bill Bryson's book "Heat Treatment, Selection, and Application of Tool Steels" to be meaty enough, and it doesn't cover a wide enough variety of steels.

He covers these alloys in enough detail to give you some place to start:
D2
A2, A6
H13
S7
M2
AISI 4140
O1
W1

The section on cryogenics covers the bare basics for a practicioner, but is pretty thin and unsubstantial.

I too would like to find a $40 - $60 ultimate reference book on heat treating...but haven't. The $200-$300 stuff I might buy but only if I could review the book in-hand for an hour or more. The one big fat reference on heat treating I found at Barnes & Noble left something to be desired.

Hence, my interest in Paul Bos writing a book on knife stuff [not just how to heat treat, but all about cryo, and how to vary the heat treat to solve various problems, and some empirical data around hardness, edge holding, abrasion resistance, and toughness (bending and impact resistance both).]

I thought the freebie 3-ring book from Crucible called "Tool Steel and Specialty Alloy Selector" was a much better value, and it had more in the way of empirical comparative information (not enough to satisfy, like charts of toughness at various hardnesses), but a good overview. This is not a book on how to heat treat, but an alloy selector guideline. Worth the price paid X 10,000 (it was free).

 
Thanks for all replys on this subject. I have been compiling my own data but lack the expertise that Paul has after 35+ years. He has paid his dues to get where he is. My mentor Wayne Goddard has been helping me stack up info on all the steels we can find info on. some time I will organize it and possibly make it available. It seems that every maker has his own way and they are happy enough to not change. I havent looked in the Machinist Handbook yet. There is a copy at the college that I can look at. I have bought a book off ebay that was dated 1915 Its really interesting reading. Bruce B
 
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