Heat treat question

A

Andre V

Joined
Oct 6, 2005
Messages
268
I recently bought some stainless damascus from a well renowned maker here in South Africa. Bertie Rietveld

In his instructions for HT procedure he recommends putting a charcoal briquette in the oven and doing away with the foil packet wrapping on the blade.

My biggest worry is "decarborization", the charcoal should create a carbon rich atmosphere in the oven which may eliminate this problem. Another concern is my blade may develop a lot of scale.

Does anyone use this method?
 
At 1950 F scale and decarburization occur quickly. Much better to use foil and 'plate quench' .A quick and efficient method. Is that 'Damasteel' or some other type of stainless damascus ?
 
Thanks for the resonse's. I emailed the maker of the damscus and he said the charcoal is there to eat up the oxygen in the oven. Scale may still occur though.

Its always nice to hear of new methods, and its also nice to get your opinions. Thanks Again
 
Sounds like a plausible idea.

Many briquettes are listed as 'all natural ingredients'.

Lang
 
All natural ingredients does not mean all good ingredients. Arsenic is a natural ingredient, but I wouldn't want it in my water.
Stacy
 
I don't like the idea of the briqette flaming up it the heat treat oven... maybe add some mig trimix to create an inert atmosphere but no flaming briqs for sure! How hot do ya need to heattreat? As already mentioned 1950F is the limit otherwise its physically or atmospherically isolate the piece being treated from being affected by air. Something to consider, Bill A.
 
Theoretically, if it is simply a piece of charcoal, that's just carbon -which will combine with the oxygen in the oven to form carbon dioxide. I believe carbon has a higher affinity for oxygen than iron. Therefore, it is supposed to use up the oxygen in the oven, preventing scale.

I'd be interested to know if anyone has tried this? And if the theory works.
 
mete said:
At 1950 F scale and decarburization occur quickly. Much better to use foil and 'plate quench' .A quick and efficient method. Is that 'Damasteel' or some other type of stainless damascus ?
Click to expand...
Bertie makes his own, the damascus of his I saw was 13C26/302.
 
flatgrinder said:
Theoretically, if it is simply a piece of charcoal, that's just carbon -which will combine with the oxygen in the oven to form carbon dioxide. I believe carbon has a higher affinity for oxygen than iron. Therefore, it is supposed to use up the oxygen in the oven, preventing scale.

I'd be interested to know if anyone has tried this? And if the theory works.
Click to expand...

Mr Rietveld uses this method. He did say in his response email that scale does sometimes occur.
 
bladsmth said:
All natural ingredients does not mean all good ingredients. Arsenic is a natural ingredient, but I wouldn't want it in my water.
Stacy
Click to expand...

Briquettes marketed as "all natural ingredients" are allowed to contain only charcoal and starch. Its just a matter of hoping the manufaturers oblige!

I would like to try this idea of HT with a lump of some charcoal, but the possibility of flaring up is a concern, especially in a closed off oven.
 
just dont get briquettes made in china or you might create a weird alloy on the out side of your blades :rolleyes:

-matt
 
I'd be afraid the briquett would foul up the HT oven particularly if it's electric. I would rather use the traditional foil pouch method first on one knife to see how it turns out and then go from there.
 
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