I have a heat treating question

[terrywitt]

Hi All. Thanks for letting me join. I have a question but since I am a new be there might not be a simple answer. I am a machinist am somewhat familiar with metals, but after I have machined the metal it goes to heat treat where I don't see what they do with it.

What I have is some planner blades for my wood planner. I made some new blades out of steal what we call gauge stock. I think it is also known as oil hard steal. Since I am retired now and have no one to ask now, I would like to know what I can do to make these new blades last longer. They cut good but the edge don't last all that long. I assume I want to toughen them up. Maybe there is a better term for what I want to do.

I have seen the heat treat people heat steel then quench in oil or water, then reheat until slightly blue which does something to it. I do have my own shop with a torch.

Can anyone please tell/explain to me step by step what I need to do to toughen my blades. I know this steel I made them out of if I heat them then quench in oil or water, they get brittle.

Thanks in advance Terry

 

[3fifty7]

I wouldn’t advise you experiment with blades to be used on a powered machine.

 

[terrywitt]

Thanks 3fifty7 for your concern, but I have been making my own blades for over 40 yrs. Never a problem.

 

[FredyCro]

It's going to be a guess game if you don't know what your steel is. Check the stickies on the top of the page for same basic info on heat treating.

 

[Pinoy Knife]

look up the blades online .. you might find exactly what they are made of, but it might take some real effort.
if you can't find it then you can pay to have the steel tested.
Most simple steels are fairly easy to heat treat, others require complicated things like exact temperatures, moltent salt, cryo soak then tempering..
it just depends on what it Was made for.. often trying to re purposed unknown metal can be a big crap shoot... lots of trial and error with zero guaranteed results.