Heat treating ?

[Keith Willis]

I have a few knives that i heat treated with a torch and magnet,i guess not the best way,but that is the way i have always done it,anyway,when i sanded the bevels i sanded a coupled of them a little thin and they warped pretty bad.I have never had this happen before.As i right this they are in my toaster oven.Is there anything i can do,or are they scrap.
Thanks,Keith

 

[Martin S.]

I'd heat it up again and straighten right out of the quench while still hot to the touch.

 

[Big Smitty]

I just had this happen with an O1 blade that I flat ground to thin at the edge. When I heat treated it about 1/8" of the blade edge came out wavy for about 1 1/2" of blade length. Sooooo I tried to grind out the waves which went OK. Upon sharpening the blade edge was chipping. Guess I over cooked the metal due to it being to thin. This is my first scrapped knife, bummer!

 

[LRB]

HTing 01 with a torch just ain't the way to go. If you don't have access to an HT oven, then the only thing else to do is try it in a forge. A torch will not give you an even heat, which is something 01 is very particular about, or it warps. It also needs to go into the quench as straight as you can sink it, or it warps. The edge is not as crucial as you may think, if everything else is done well. A common forge HT for 01 is not going to give you the best HT for it. It requires a controled soak at, or a bit above 1475o, for about 20 minutes, or it will not go to full solution. Your best course would be to forget 01, and go to 1084, if you can do no better than a torch. You can do 1084 with your torch.

 

[Steve Hayden]

Personally, I soak the carbon steels too for at least a few minutes(5 to 10 minutes for 1084), with good results so far.

 

[Keith Willis]

Thanks guys i am going to try and reheat them and straighten it,maybe i won't have to scrap them.

 

[Kevin R. Cashen]

Personally, I soak the carbon steels too for at least a few minutes(5 to 10 minutes for 1084), with good results so far.

I have to second what Steve said, I know not everybody has the same equipment but I soak everything for at least 5 minutes after reaching temperature, I feel that since it can't hurt (as long as you have control of the temp) better safe than sorry.