Heat treat for low hardness

[Alex Dron]

Hi,
I need to make few throwing knives and want them to be between 45 to 55 RC. I do HT for my "easy" steel 1080+ blades with torch and kitchen oven. I can't achieve at home a temperature higher than 450 for tempering below 58 RC. What would be another way to get the blade to my desired hardness, with given equipment? I hate to send those cheap throwing sticks into the service.

 

[S.Alexander]

Use your torch to temper the blades to a lower hardness. Almost as if you were spring tempering the whole blade.

 

[Bo T]

Temper you blades as usual in your oven then use the torch. Google tempering colors for steel.

 

[Alex Dron]

Thanks guys, will try. I know it should be purple to blue for 700-800 f.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Just have any metal shop in town, or another knifemaker, put them in their HT oven at 800°F for an hour....problem solved.
http://www.yellowpages.com/san-jose-ca/metal-heat-treating