How do you heat treat and temper 01steel in your garage?

B

Brantley

Joined
Oct 22, 1998
Messages
24
Does anyone out there have a fail proof method of HT 01 steel with a torch? Is thee a way to tell the temp by the color of the steel? What type of oil do you submerge the knive in and at what angle and how fast? Also, what temp do you bake the knife to temper the blade to about 58-59Rc and for how long?
 
I have been working with O1 for some time now and done the heattreat my self like you say. I build a litle corner of firebricks to insulate the heat. I put the blade in a litle holder made of angel bar of sheat metal with groves for the blades to rest in. Then i heat the blade from the back and move the torch over the blade. With a magnet i check for the right temp. When its ready for quenching the steel is not magnetig anymore. I put the blade very fast into the oil edge first and stir around until the oil dont boil anymore around the blade. I leave the blade in the oil until its room temp. The oil i use i hydralicoil - its thin. I bake the blade at 23o degrees celsius( sorry dont know the farenheit) for one hour, the take it out and let cool to room temp. and bake again for one hour and cool to room temp. Then the blade is about 58-59 Rc. Hope this helps


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Jens Ansø

 
Thats a good idea.
Just get some fire brick and build a nest with two prophane torches one on each side.
Bring the blade to non mag. Then quench straight down (TIP DOWN)and move the blade up and down not side ways. If you cool one side before the other it will warp. Pre heat the oil to about 200 deg. The blade must cool to about 150 deg for it to get hard. It also is a good idea to temper it 20 mins after cool down.. Use a med weight oil to do this. Temper from 375 - 550 depending on the hardness you want. 400 deg f is a good starting point. You can use a toaster oven for the temper ..


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Darrel Ralph / Bladesmith
Web www.infinet.com/~browzer
Take a look!!!!
 
thanks for the info, I'll give it a try..
by the way, any medium weight oil will work, used or new? and how do you preheat your oil?
 
Transmission fluid will work fine..

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Darrel Ralph / Bladesmith
Web www.infinet.com/~browzer
Take a look!!!!
 
Heat a bar of steel as hot as you can get it,
put it in the oil.Repeat untill the oil hits 120-140F.
You want to submerge the hot section completely in the oil,cuts down on fire and smoke.
Get an deepfry thermometer at the grocery store they work great.
ED
 
I have a neet trick to heat up oil before quenching a peice of steel..

I purchased an old used electric fry pan from a thrift store, the kind with the plug in temperature dial.

I took the skillet turned it over, and cut off everything that is not element, basically I just trimmed off the sides of the skillet..

Take what is left and mount it in the side of your quench tank..

So when you ready to quench, just plug it in turn it on and set it to the temperature you want, when the light goes out, your at the right temp...

Hope it helps, Alan.
 
Thats a good one Alan.. I like it..

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Darrel Ralph / Bladesmith
Web www.infinet.com/~browzer
Take a look!!!!
 
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