Heat treated AEB-L without turcoat what to do.

JMJones said:
Nope. Carbon migration is sloooooow. If I remember correctly, it is only like 5 thousanths per hour at these temps. That is exactly why thin cross sections must be foil wrapped and thick ones it makes no difference because it will all be ground off.
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Interesting. Tests I've read of low and high carbon forge welded laminates showed that carbon dispersion happened faster than that because the final product had pretty close to even carbon throughout.
 
RX-79G said:
Interesting. Tests I've read of low and high carbon forge welded laminates showed that carbon dispersion happened faster than that because the final product had pretty close to even carbon throughout.
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That is true. It is because there are so many layers with the carbon migrating from the higher concentration to lower concentration. Since there can be hundreds of ultra thin layers that .005 per hour still gets the carbon content homogenized pretty quick.
 
RX-79G said:
Interesting. Tests I've read of low and high carbon forge welded laminates showed that carbon dispersion happened faster than that because the final product had pretty close to even carbon throughout.
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Maybe I'm missing something but why would you want to make a blade and then wind up with scale all over it when you could completely avoid it with $1-$2 worth of foil. That doesn't even take into consideration the time and abrasives it will take to clean it up afterward.
H/T foil is your friend and its one of the best bargains in the knifemaking world. Do yourself a big favor and get a roll, you wont regret it.
 
I won't get this thread of track on carbon diffusion in Ht, as that is a very complex subject. Suffice to say that it isn't all that fast or completely homogenous.

As to not using foil....why do you think everyone in the entire industry uses it? Unless you have a vacuum oven with no oxygen, it is a requirement as far as I know.
How deep will the decarb steel be???.... You don't know. Where will it be the worst???....at the edge. The one part of the blade that actually matters on a knife will be the most compromised area. That alone should end the discussion.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I won't get this thread of track on carbon diffusion in Ht, as that is a very complex subject. Suffice to say that it isn't all that fast or completely homogenous.

As to not using foil....why do you think everyone in the entire industry uses it? Unless you have a vacuum oven with no oxygen, it is a requirement as far as I know.
How deep will the decarb steel be???.... You don't know. Where will it be the worst???....at the edge. The one part of the blade that actually matters on a knife will be the most compromised area. That alone should end the discussion.
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The frustrating thing about this thread is that there doesn't seem to be much agreement between the bladesmiths about whether the OP's accidental uncoated heat treat has fundamentally ruined the steel under the scale.

Either carbon diffusion IS slow, and the metal under the scale has about the .68 Carbon it should have.

-OR-

Carbon diffusion is relatively fast, and the scale acts like a wick, drawing carbon out of the high concentration areas into the low concentration scale where it is burned off.



Obviously, you can grind off the scale and get the blade tested, but I suspect someone in the last 100 years has already done that. Anyone?
 
I am not recommending not using foil. I use foil when I ht stainless steel. The question is that since he didnt use it already is the steel ruined? Its not ruined because the foil serves one single function, to prevent decarb. Since all the decarb will be long gone when the steel blade is beveled the blade will be fine. Its not magic is metallurgy.
 
I have to admit that I missed the fact that it was not beveled. That does change things. I would still grind the edge back a good bit to get past any possible decarb.
 
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