heat treating help

[blademan 13]

I have just recently acquired 20 to 30 lengths of bar stock that I was told was "Soligen" steel. While I am not certain what it is, it will definitely make some fine material to practice working and finishing. Inititially I was just going to heat to non-magnetic, oil quench and then temper. Could anyone please give me some guidelines on approx. hardening temperature, quenching and approx. temperature needed to temper a Rockwell C of 55-57? I am assuming that this steel is similar in composition to 1095. Does this sound right? Thanks.

 

[Don Cowles]

Since heat treating is the most critical factor in determining blade steel performance, it is absolutely essential to know exactly what material you are working with. If you have a lot of the material, it is worth paying for a spectrographic analysis to find out.

Otherwise, you can use it for practice grinding, and just take your chances on HT, but if you do that, you should not consider selling the knives.