I bought some W2 awhile back and I was hoping I could get a few opinions on how to heat treat it. I've been scouring the web and various forums including this one, and haven't had as much luck as I had hoped. I went ahead and took a stab at my blade today. Sorry no pics I figured I had a 50/50 chance it would crack and didn't want to set myself up for disapointment. By the way...It didn't crack...
Here is what I did:
Clay coated my oversize KaBar shaped Bowie a couple of days ago, 2 day drying time for the Satanite from Darren Ellis. Thanks Darren
Bought eight 1lb boxes of salt yesterday, figured that should float an egg (which was the goal).
Filled a 5gal bucket with tap water from the hose, dropped an egg in. 3 boxes of salt later the egg was floating. Hey 3 worked for my quench but would 5 be better? More salt = faster quench?????
Pre heated oven in house to 350F
Pre heated forge to around 1200F, nice deep cherry red
It was dark outside by the way.
Used scrap steel to preheat my brine water quench to 140F+. I was checking with a candy thermometer trying to get close to 150F, and it was darn close.
Heated ricasso with Mapp gas torch closer to the tang than the edge until it started to glow.
I put the blade in the forge holding the tang with tongs and kept it moving trying to heat it evenly. Did this 5-10 minutes keeping below critical.
Brought the forge up to a very low orange, guessing around 1450-1500 I was hoping. I was checking the edge with a magnet. The magnet would not stick to about half the edge but it did stick near the ricasso. So back into the forge for about another 10 count, then into the quench. I was scared to death!
I moved quickly but carefully. It entered the water at about a 45deg angle in a slicing motion. In,2,3 OUT 2,3 In,2,3 OUT 2,3 until the color was gone and there was no more hissing and steam. I held it still in there for about 10 seconds.
WOW it didn't CRACK!
I ran to the oven. 350F for 2hrs.
Took it out, let air cool.
Hand rubbed with 100, 180, 320, 800 grits.
The Hamon started jumping out at me at 180.
Etched in 7:1 water/Ferric chloride.
I'm amazed at the results, the lines are awesome. Not as neat and pretty as some of yours but hey it's my first with water.
The blade is around 3" wide at the widest point, almost 1/4" at the spine and taken down to just shy of a zero edge at this point.
Like I said, I'm open for suggestions. Would any of you done it differently?
Also, do I need to temper for a total of: (2x) at 350F or (3x) at 350F? or 400F?
Thanks
Chris
Here is what I did:
Clay coated my oversize KaBar shaped Bowie a couple of days ago, 2 day drying time for the Satanite from Darren Ellis. Thanks Darren
Bought eight 1lb boxes of salt yesterday, figured that should float an egg (which was the goal).
Filled a 5gal bucket with tap water from the hose, dropped an egg in. 3 boxes of salt later the egg was floating. Hey 3 worked for my quench but would 5 be better? More salt = faster quench?????
Pre heated oven in house to 350F
Pre heated forge to around 1200F, nice deep cherry red
It was dark outside by the way.
Used scrap steel to preheat my brine water quench to 140F+. I was checking with a candy thermometer trying to get close to 150F, and it was darn close.
Heated ricasso with Mapp gas torch closer to the tang than the edge until it started to glow.
I put the blade in the forge holding the tang with tongs and kept it moving trying to heat it evenly. Did this 5-10 minutes keeping below critical.
Brought the forge up to a very low orange, guessing around 1450-1500 I was hoping. I was checking the edge with a magnet. The magnet would not stick to about half the edge but it did stick near the ricasso. So back into the forge for about another 10 count, then into the quench. I was scared to death!
I moved quickly but carefully. It entered the water at about a 45deg angle in a slicing motion. In,2,3 OUT 2,3 In,2,3 OUT 2,3 until the color was gone and there was no more hissing and steam. I held it still in there for about 10 seconds.
WOW it didn't CRACK!
I ran to the oven. 350F for 2hrs.
Took it out, let air cool.
Hand rubbed with 100, 180, 320, 800 grits.
The Hamon started jumping out at me at 180.
Etched in 7:1 water/Ferric chloride.
I'm amazed at the results, the lines are awesome. Not as neat and pretty as some of yours but hey it's my first with water.
The blade is around 3" wide at the widest point, almost 1/4" at the spine and taken down to just shy of a zero edge at this point.
Like I said, I'm open for suggestions. Would any of you done it differently?
Also, do I need to temper for a total of: (2x) at 350F or (3x) at 350F? or 400F?
Thanks
Chris
