I need help

[Dave G Knox]

Hey guys I need some pro help. Made first knife from 1/8th inch flat stock 01 tool steel. Brought knife up to nonmagnetic in little two brick forge then quenched in warm veg oil. At this point the blade passed file test. Tempered 2 hours at 400 degrees in toaster oven and let blade cool to room temp. Spin of knife and blade will still skate a file but I can bend blade by hand and it will stay bent. What the hell did I do wrong? If I did mess it up can I requench and retemper? Thanks for.help

 

[Kevin McGovern]

Did you grind off the decarb before you file tested it?

 

[Dave G Knox]

Well I had sanded it to 320 before quenched and after I sanded it to get black off but no grinding after quench.

 

[Josh Rider]

Where did you get the O1?
How fast did you quench? Did you just go to non-magnetic or past it.
O1 requires a soak contrary to what youtube knifemakers might say. That's not to say that it won't be possible to make a good knife without it, but this may be part of your problem.
And if I'm not mistaken, normalizing and thermal cycling may be necessary depending on what condition the steel was in.
I've had problems with large grain size with O1 myself from doing as you did when I started out.
Have you tried 1084?
It's a great steel and easy to heat treat.

 

[Tyshoots]

If it will bend and hold it's shape it's to soft. Taking the decarb off will probably let your file dig in. I have never used O1 but all steel needs to hotter than nonmagnetic.

Heat it to nonmagnetic and wait for it to get brighter( not a color change that's to hot). Quench at that point. Take a cheap file and break the corner off of the tip at a 45. This will leave 1 corner sharp. That will cut through the decarb and skate on the metal underneath.

 

[Dave G Knox]

I got the 01 from Amazon and it shipped from Sterrett I believe. And yes I might have rushed the initial heat. Can I reheat and quenched without any major problems at this point?

 

[Josh Rider]

http://www.bladeforums.com/threads/heat-treating-01-tool-steel-help.581032/

Read this. Of course you can heat treat again, but don't be surprised if you get similar results. Without a soak you're not going to get everything out of the steel.
I'd suggest putting it aside and ordering some 1084 or sending it off to someone who can heat treat it properly.

 

[Dave G Knox]

Thanks for the info guys. I'm going to try again with the heat treat and try and let it soak. Once I use up this piece of 01 I will take your advice Josh and get some 1084. I am getting frustrated because first knife I made was out of found steel which turned out to be mild steel. So I have a lot of time in a pattern blade. If I mess this one up from bought steel I will be very upset. All I can do is learn from my mistakes and drink more beer.

 

[KnuckleDownKnives]

Thanks for the info guys. I'm going to try again with the heat treat and try and let it soak. Once I use up this piece of 01 I will take your advice Josh and get some 1084. I am getting frustrated because first knife I made was out of found steel which turned out to be mild steel. So I have a lot of time in a pattern blade. If I mess this one up from bought steel I will be very upset. All I can do is learn from my mistakes and drink more beer.

Don't be discouraged about messing up a few blades here and there. My very first one came out better than my last two. One is completely unsalvageable, the other I may be able to salvage.

Note to self: When you try your hand at hollow grinding for the first time and free hand at that, try it on some scrap steel first. I REALLY suck at grinding on the left hand side of the wheel.