heat treating O1 steel???

[markmarkmark]

can someone direct me to instructions for how to heat treat O1 steel? i'm planning to forge some wood turning tools out of O1 drill rod and have no idea how to heat treat the stuff...

thanks...

 

[Chris Crawford]

MarkMarkMark, Here are the instructions that came with my bar of 01:

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Preheat thoroughly at 1200f and heat to 1450f to 1500f depending on section size. Hold until uniformly heated through. Quench in warm, thin quenching oil to about 125f and temper immediately.

Temper for one hour:
300f Rockwell C 63-64
400f Rockwell C 61-62
500f Rockwell C 58-60
600f Rockwell C 54-56
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Those are the instructions. However, I heat the 01 in my forge until non magnetic and quench in veg oil. I then temper the blade at 375 for an hour, let cool to room temp, and temper again.

Hope this helps. -chris

 

[Fox]

Chris is right on. When I tried tempering three cycles at 400 I found that I was getting slight dents in the edges when performing the edge flex test, so my steel was slightly soft. Stepping back to 375F for tempering seems to have solved that problem.

Fox

 

[Disco Stu]

Has anyone else found that O1 gets harder quenched in water? Whenever I make a little tool that needs to be hardened I quench in cool water and it seems to work just as well if not better than the warm veg oil I've been using. Of course with small pieces of steel there isn't much chance of cracking or warping. Just something to consider.

 

[samwereb]

Water allows for a more rapid quench and, thus, a harder piece. It also increases the risk of deformation during the quench. Notwithstanding that, 0-1 is known to be especially forgiving of the sorts of mistakes made by beginners. It's widely considered to be the best steel on which to learn the basics. Good luck, and let us know how you do.