I have a piece of mystery metal (no idea what it is), that is 1.125 wide, .0625 thick, and 10" long. It is flexible, but not ductile. I can file it, so it is not hard, it has a rounded groove about .02 running down the length. I made a boning knife out of it, and was wondering about heat treating it at home. It doesn't have to be perfect,as this is an experiment. Can anyone give me an idea? It is magnetic, so if I heated it up in my firepit until it wasn't magnetic, quenched it in oil, and baked it in the oven at @375, would that work?? Thank you.
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Heat treating "mystery metal"
- Thread starter sinawalli
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 19, 1999
- Messages
- 3,560
You missed the most basic test of mystery metal, the spark test. Take a grinder to the metal and observe the spark. If it is a nice round red spark throw the metal away. If it is a big hairy spark like a sparkler it is potentially heat treatable. Lots of big hairy sparks indicate it is a good contender for knifemaking.
I donno about tossing steel with red sparks, some tool steels and HSS throw red sparks. I'd do the quench like you said, but before you temper it do the file test to see if it skates. If it skates you should be good, if it bites then try again with water, if the file still bites then use it for guards or something.
It is not stainless, and yes, it throws a "big hairy spark, like a sparkler". After much thought, I can remember when the person who gave it to me said, (if my memory serves me well), that it would make a good knife. I'll give it a try, and see what happens!! Thanks for all replies.
I thought you'd never ask 
I just read about this in the machinery handbook. Here's a neat little explanation.
http://www.matter.org.uk/steelmatter/metallurgy/7_1_1.html
I just read about this in the machinery handbook. Here's a neat little explanation.
http://www.matter.org.uk/steelmatter/metallurgy/7_1_1.html
That's neat, I like the little interactive thing where you heat up and quench a piece of steel. I didn't understand the bit with the black bars coming in from the side though.
It reminds me of a more modern version of the quench test in "The Complete Blacksmith" where you heat a long section of stock so the very tip is obviously way too hot, and remember the range of color for the whole heated length then quench. Start breaking off bits until you get to the part that's still full hard and has the smallest grain, remember the color on that section and that's your hardening temp for that steel.
It reminds me of a more modern version of the quench test in "The Complete Blacksmith" where you heat a long section of stock so the very tip is obviously way too hot, and remember the range of color for the whole heated length then quench. Start breaking off bits until you get to the part that's still full hard and has the smallest grain, remember the color on that section and that's your hardening temp for that steel.