Heat treaters?

S

SR_matt

Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
623
Hello,
I tried searching but it didnt work so im not sure if this gets asked a lot or not but i appologize if it is a repeated question.

i am trying to find a heat treater that is resaonbly priced for 01 carbon steel. i googled heat treaters and found a few but i really do not know the correct term for the quenching and tempering process or which other process is best that they offer.

any help would be greatly appriceated.

thanks
-matt
 
Matt, Where in Virginia are you? There are a bunch of us around here. You might be able to come over and learn how it is done for free.
Stacy
 
im up in yorktown.

the main problems im having is my heating equpment is some what limited so ive been using charcoal and a nice little brick set up to get the metal up high enough, then quenching in oil, followed by the wonderful kitchen oven to temper it down. the 2 blades ive done warped. i do not think i quenched unevenly and the first one came up pretty warped, i tried to bend it back some and snaped the blade in half. no fun when im trying to get a portfolio done very quickly.

if there is an easier way to temper it would be very appriceated. i was told of a way from a friend that involves: heating to red hot, quenching, heating to red hot again then sticking the blade into a potato. its some weird trick that gives the blade a very high rockwell hardness.

thanks
-matt
 
Matt, with all due respect to your friend, folklore heat treating like sticking in a potato are great to read, but not so great in reality. Your setup does not sound like it is getting the blade hot enough. Send me an email; and maybe we can get together one weekend and do some blades. We are only 20-30 minutes apart.
Stacy
 
alright,

ya i thought it was a little far fetched but he said he has done it and hes not one to lie or streach truths so meh never know.

the set up i have was actualy able to get it to about 1500-1600s going by the color roughly.

ill shoot you an email
thanks
-matt
 
Color is a good gauge of temperature on about the one hundredth time you take a temperature reading ( it takes a lot of experience). Before that you see a color, but have nothing to compare it to as far as an actual temperature.Also, your red may be my orange. Most people are surprised as to how far off they guess temperature by color.
Bert Foster has the best color judging advise. He says to put a thermo probe in the oven (connected to a good pyrometer).Adjust the forge/over to get the desired temperature.Put blade in forge/oven next to the probe.When the blade is the exact same color as the probe, the temperature on the readout is the blade temperature.
 
no real differance on size?

i will be in contact with you if working with stacy does not work out.

thanks
-matt
 
Man I wish I lived in VA!

Mark me if I'm wrong, but I believe you can judge the correct quench temperature for a variety of steels with a magnet. When the magnet ceases to be attracted you may quench your work

Your warping could be caused from your steel being too thin as well.

Good luck.
 
del very cool, i probably will send a few to you just to see what works best for me, ill shoot you off an email soon just to figure out details so i can try to figure out the best way to go about getting my blades tempered.

what RC do you temper to or is it what ever the customer wants?

ritz that makes sence that thin metal could warp but im using 1/8 in thick stock and that seemd to be a pretty standard size thickness for small to medium sized knives

thanks everyone, im very pleased with teh responce and the friendlyness of this forum, i feel very welcomed

-matt
 
I generally do a 400f temper with o-1 thats about 60Rc which works well for all but razors and serious choppers.
Del
 
pre heated canola(SP) oil.

i got a few cups in an old bread pan. had a pice of steel in my fire that was almost the same size as my small blade i was doing. droped in the heater piece, after the stopped bubbling a lot i pulled out my blade, put most of the blade in as streight as posiable then after the oiled chilled out (just a few seconds) droped the rest of it in.

-matt
 
" I got a few cups..." - Not nearly enough quenchant!The quenchant has to have enough thermal mass to absorb all the heat from the blade quickly.I would consider one gallon a minimum.

"When the magnet ceases to be attracted...quench" - you quench at the Austenitizing range - or about 50-100 degrees above the non-magnetic point.The Acm to Ac3 range varies from steel to steel, depending on the carbon content and the alloy ingredients.The lowest point is the eutectoid -
.83% carbon and no alloys.Plain 1080 steel is popular for this reason.It has the lowest quench temp, a reasonable nose on the cooling chart,and a very forgiving nature for those who have to guess (color,magnet,etc.) at the exact temperatures.
 
the blade i was doing was only 4.5 inches long and 3/4 of an inch tall. the pan i had the oil in was probably about 8 x3x3 and pretty much totaly full. even with heating the oild before hand the oil only seemed to be slightly warm to the touch while the temp outside was 50*F. i went a checked the container size and i had just at 1 quart.

-matt
 
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