Help with backyard HT of O1 and 5160

Revolverrodger

Revolverrodger

Joined
Jul 23, 2007
Messages
3,889
Hello,
I'm making a knife for my son and for myself... I'm new at all this and I'm working with the following:
- Propane forge
- Magnet
- Canola Oil
- Kitchen Oven

I'm making a 4'' bushcraft knife from 3/16 O1 and here is what I plan to do...
1- I'm using a metal bar bought online... do I still need to normalize it after grinding ?
2- I plan to heat it to non magnetic in the propane forge
3- Should I quench tip down or edge down in canola oil ? Do I really need to pre-heat the oil ?
4- Heat treat to 400oF in the oven and let cool slowly...
Is that a good protocol ?

The other knife I want to make is a 8'' chopper in 0.2'' 5150
1- Again this is a metal bar bought online. I s it necessay to normalize 5160 after grinding ? Some people say that 5160 should be triple normailized.
2- Heat it up to non magnetic in the forge
3- Quench it in canola oil (probably tip down ?). Again some people say to do this three times... I wonder what are the advantages ?
4- Heat treat to 400oF in the oven and let cool slowly...

Guys feel free to correct any of the steps if I'm wrong... I need the help :D
Thanks alot
 
At minimum get a pyrometer from auberins. Without temp control, heat treat is a crap shoot. They aren't that expensive.
 
Non-magnetic is not hot enough. Non-mag is about 1400°F, you want the steel 75-100°F hotter. When the steel becomes non-magnetic, look at the color, heat it one shade brighter red than that. That will be close to the 1475-1500°F target temp. It is best to do the HT in subdued light in the evening time, or at night.

O-1 requires a 10 minute soak time, which will be hard to do and keep from overheating in a simple propane forge. Get it to the desired temp/color and try to keep it there for several minutes before the quench.

Canola needs to be warmed to 100-120°F to quench best.

Stock removal blades don't have to be normalized, but it is a good procedure to bring all blades above non-mag and allow to cool in the air a few times before the final heat-up and quench. This both stress relieves the blade, and gives you a few practice runs at getting the temperature colors judged.

Two 400°F tempers, of two hours each, with a cool down in water between them, is the tempering regimen.
 
Thanks alot for the info Bladsmth
this is my first attempt at knives (a new hobby)
Does the same hold true for 5160 ?
 
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