Help me with the knife design, please

[i4Marc]

Hi Constantin,

Thank you. I have worked in A2 and 01 but I don't specialize in them. I have had good results with my equipment but maybe folks that do hundreds or thousands of knives in those steels can chime in and give some heat treatment routines that are proven for them. You can also do a search to find a number of things that will work. Then you can tweak for the best results with your equipment. Heat treat routines can change over time as you renew batches of steel or upgrade your equipment but to answer your question these are what has worked for me and my set up*:

01
Normalized @ 1650˚f, 1450˚f and 1250˚f
Pre-heat @1250˚f for 10 minutes
Austenitized @ 1500˚f with a 20 minute soak
Quench in ambient Parks #50 oil
Tempered @ 400˚f for 2 hours 3X

A2
Wrap blade in stainless steel foil packet
Pre-heat @1250˚f not exceeding 400˚ per hour, equalize for 15 minutes
Ramp up to 1400˚f not exceeding 400˚ per hour, soak for 15 minutes
Ramp up to 1750˚f not exceeding 400˚ per hour, soak for 45 minutes
Plate quench for 1 minute then water cool
Place blade in sub zero bath (alcohol/dry ice slurry) for 30 minutes
Tempered @ 400˚f for 2 hours 2X


* My set up (the basic stuff):
Wuertz TW-90 Grinder
Evenheat KH418 with Rampmaster controller
Parks 50 oil
Plate quench press with 1.5" thick aluminum plates

 

[Heli00]

Hi Constantin,

Thank you. I have worked in A2 and 01 but I don't specialize in them. I have had good results with my equipment but maybe folks that do hundreds or thousands of knives in those steels can chime in and give some heat treatment routines that are proven for them. You can also do a search to find a number of things that will work. Then you can tweak for the best results with your equipment. Heat treat routines can change over time as you renew batches of steel or upgrade your equipment but to answer your question these are what has worked for me and my set up:

01
Normalized @ 1650˚f, 1450˚f and 1250˚f
Pre-heat @1250˚f for 10 minutes
Austenitized @ 1500˚f with a 20 minute soak
Quench in ambient Parks #50 oil
Tempered @ 400˚f for 2 hours 3X

A2
Wrap blade in stainless steel foil packet
Pre-heat @1250˚f not exceeding 400˚ per hour, equalize for 15 minutes
Ramp up to 1400˚f not exceeding 400˚ per hour, soak for 15 minutes
Ramp up to 1750˚f not exceeding 400˚ per hour, soak for 45 minutes
Plate quench for 1 minute then water cool
Place blade in sub zero bath (alcohol/dry ice slurry) for 30 minutes
Tempered @ 400˚f for 2 hours 2X

This is such great information, thank you so much.

Constantin

 

[Heli00]

Hi Constantin,

Thank you. I have worked in A2 and 01 but I don't specialize in them. I have had good results with my equipment but maybe folks that do hundreds or thousands of knives in those steels can chime in and give some heat treatment routines that are proven for them. You can also do a search to find a number of things that will work. Then you can tweak for the best results with your equipment. Heat treat routines can change over time as you renew batches of steel or upgrade your equipment but to answer your question these are what has worked for me and my set up*:

01
Normalized @ 1650˚f, 1450˚f and 1250˚f
Pre-heat @1250˚f for 10 minutes
Austenitized @ 1500˚f with a 20 minute soak
Quench in ambient Parks #50 oil
Tempered @ 400˚f for 2 hours 3X

A2
Wrap blade in stainless steel foil packet
Pre-heat @1250˚f not exceeding 400˚ per hour, equalize for 15 minutes
Ramp up to 1400˚f not exceeding 400˚ per hour, soak for 15 minutes
Ramp up to 1750˚f not exceeding 400˚ per hour, soak for 45 minutes
Plate quench for 1 minute then water cool
Place blade in sub zero bath (alcohol/dry ice slurry) for 30 minutes
Tempered @ 400˚f for 2 hours 2X


* My set up (the basic stuff):
Wuertz TW-90 Grinder
Evenheat KH418 with Rampmaster controller
Parks 50 oil
Plate quench press with 1.5" thick aluminum plates

i4Marc , just a clarification please.
You put the blade in a cold oven, right before the pre-heat cycle, correct?

Thanks again,
Constantin

 

[i4Marc]

i4Marc , just a clarification please.
You put the blade in a cold oven, right before the pre-heat cycle, correct?

Thanks again,
Constantin

Yes. If running a program like the one I used for A2, I put the blade in a cold oven then heat because the heat procedure pauses at different temperatures to equalize before reaching the austenitizing temperature. If running a simple program that shoots right up to the austenitizing temperature for a given amount of time, the oven can over-shoot the temperature. So for simple programs I do it one of three ways. Either I wait until the oven has reached the temp I want then put the blade in (the cold blade drops the temp in the oven and allows the oven to creep back up to austenitizing temp). Or I add a step in the program maybe a couple of hundred degrees below austenitizing temp that equalized the temp before continuing up to final temp. The third way is to set your oven to ramp up to temperature at a rate less than maximum/as fast as possible.

 

[Heli00]

Yes. If running a program like the one I used for A2, I put the blade in a cold oven then heat because the heat procedure pauses at different temperatures to equalize before reaching the austenitizing temperature. If running a simple program that shoots right up to the austenitizing temperature for a given amount of time, the oven can over-shoot the temperature. So for simple programs I do it one of three ways. Either I wait until the oven has reached the temp I want then put the blade in (the cold blade drops the temp in the oven and allows the oven to creep back up to austenitizing temp). Or I add a step in the program maybe a couple of hundred degrees below austenitizing temp that equalized the temp before continuing up to final temp. The third way is to set your oven to ramp up to temperature at a rate less than maximum/as fast as possible.

Awsome, thanks again for your help, really appreciated!
Constantin