Heat Treating Cpm3v??

1

1whosells

Joined
Dec 15, 2003
Messages
16
Ok, I know that heat treat is a sometimes clssified process for many. So my question is, as follows:

Can 3v be heat treated in different ways or does CPM put out the prefered method?

How much testing has gone into the different heat treatments if there are any?

I mean, does a Rinaldi 3V blade perform the same as a Hossom 3V or any one of the large group of makers using 3V?

Or does everyone use a similar process?

How does Cryo effect 3V?

I have heard that forging does help on 3V, does it?

These may be dumb questions, but I am interested in 3V, and want to get one, where the maximum possible performance has been extracted from the steel.
 
There is a range of temperatures/times with 3V, as with any tool steel, so, there are many possible variations in HT. I believe that Rinaldi and Hossum both use Paul Bos, so, they're going to have similar HT's. I use my own formula with great results. Most good heat treaters are going to be using the data from Crucible, as they have put a lot of time and effort into developing their data to assure maximum performance from their steel.
I like to cryo 3V-it is a very tough steel and the cryo helps the edge holding.

I would not want to forge 3V myself-the microstructure is so perfect from the mill, I could not imagine what benefit forging would add, and, unless done by a real expert the chances of adversely affecting the steel are great IMO.
 
RJ,
Good info. I guess the question that I have wold be, if there is a noticeable difference between the different HT's. Of course this may never be known as comparing multiple knives of one steel with different HTs is not usually done. However, it would make for an interestng comparison. I would think the differences would be small in performance between the better HT's. Is 3V a forgiving steel to work with?
 
RJ is right Jerry, and I both use Paul Bos.. I dont know exactly what Paul does to 3V but whatever it is, he got it right..:)
I also know Paul is not often satisfied with what steel companies prescribe as a HT recipe.

To tell the difference in heat treatment, you would need to test blades as close to each other as possible, made the same way to get results that would mean anything.
 
Do you know if tests like that have ever been done with other more common steels that have been around long, like O-1, 1000 series or 52100, etc?

would make for an interesting topic, I think. Is there any steel Paul Bros, can't heat treat:)
 
3V is such good steel, that even a dunderhead like me got good results heat treating it. I went to a friend's house(who happens to have a Paragon oven), and we heat treated a 3V blade of mine and tried to stick to the Crucible specs. Crucible calls for a soak time at a certain temp for a certain amount of time, and then 3 tempers of 2 hours each. Time ran out, and the blade only got 2 tempers. It also probably didnt get quenched as quickly as one would ideally prefer(some people use quench plates). I took the blade home and tried to grind on it. A fairly new 50 grit belt would barely take the colors off the blade. I got a little frustrated, and literally threw the blade point first onto the concrete floor of my shop. No damage to anything but the floor.

Curious, I sent the blade to Bailey Bradshaw, who has a Rockwell tester, and he said the blade was still 62-63 Rockwell. Yep, 3V is some good stuff. Just think how good this blade would have been if properly heat treated.
 
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