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What are the advantages of using a heat treating oven vs using a forge to heat treat whenyou temper by running the colors? Thanks!
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heat treating questions
- Thread starter knifeman1995
- Start date
Sonnydaze
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I think, friend, that you might be better off posting in this section below...
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/806-General-Knife-Maker-s-Discussion
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/806-General-Knife-Maker-s-Discussion
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2012
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- 9,287
If you are tempering by color, there wouldn't be much advantage to having/ using a oven. The advantage of the oven is being able to obtain a exact temperature and holding it for as long as needed.
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
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Using a HT oven to temper is like using a ruler to measure 17.125". Using the colors to temper a blade is like looking at a board and saying, "Yep, that's about 18"...give or take a bit."
The major difference is that an oven allows complete tempering.
When you do a temper by color, you heat up the spine and watch the colors run down the bevel. When it gets near the edge you cool off in water and you are done. The whole process tempers the edge for a few seconds. You have made the blade an uneven jumble of hardnesses and the steel is still somewhat brittle at the edge. It will not snap like glass, but it isn't truly tempered, either.
When tempering in an oven, the temper is done for one to two hours, and allows the brittle martensite to convert to tempered martensite. This is a much better blade.
The major difference is that an oven allows complete tempering.
When you do a temper by color, you heat up the spine and watch the colors run down the bevel. When it gets near the edge you cool off in water and you are done. The whole process tempers the edge for a few seconds. You have made the blade an uneven jumble of hardnesses and the steel is still somewhat brittle at the edge. It will not snap like glass, but it isn't truly tempered, either.
When tempering in an oven, the temper is done for one to two hours, and allows the brittle martensite to convert to tempered martensite. This is a much better blade.