How to soften stick tang before peening?

[sogflash]

Please forgive me if this is a too basic question for this forum. I'm just a guy with a hobby, not a knife maker.

I have some stick tang blades and want to peen the end of the tang.
First I assume I should soften the tang, but how? Is this what is called annealing? Just heat it with a torch? Heat it to a dim red? Bright yellow? Until it glows like the sun?
And then what? It's not that much material so i bet it'll cool down quick once it's out of the flame, can I end up accidentally hardening it if it cools to quickly?

One blade is 80 CrV2 and another is X50CrMoV15 if it matters.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Yes, anneal the end.
It depends on the steel type how you do that.
If it is a carbon steel, heat it to dull red and let it cool. Heat it again to just barely any red (do it in a dark place) and let cool. For maximum annealing, after the second heating, immediately stick it in a flowerpot full of ashes or vermiculite. Let it sit there for an hour and take it out. It should be soft enough to peen.


It's not as simple to anneal the end of a stainless-steel tang. I don't even recommend trying. I
For those who want to know how to try - What you need to do is heat it to 1200°F and try to keep it there for a little while. About the only way is to heat it to dull red and let it cool until it has no glow. Apply the flame again and try to keep it at that heat without getting any red color. If you can, do it for a minute or two. Let it cool and you have done all you can. Most likely it will still be fairly hard. I never peen stainless tangs. I thread them and use a screw on butt cap or pommel nut.

 

[Alex Topfer]

Look the the annealing temperature for the steel you're using. You'll never get it that accurate in this case, but it gives you an idea of what to aim for

An alternative for stainless would be to braze a softer extension onto the end (maybe you can weld, i know nothing about welding stainless)

 

[sogflash]

I'm glad I asked.

Now I'm going test and see if I can peen the stainless tang at all before I spend more time on making a handle with the tang going all the way through. It isn't chopped down to final length yet so I have something to work with and grind down if it works.