I'm confused about normalizing

[Skinner79]

I'm a total hobbyist knife maker, and a slow one at that! So far, I've completed 19 knives in about a year, mostly 440c, AEB-L, and 1084...all stock removal. I recently ordered some 80crv2 from Jantz. I've read a couple of places that 80crv2 needs to be normalized prior to heat treating, but is it necessary if I'm a stock removal guy? I bought a Paragon kiln last year so I could do my own HT, but I'm still learning all this metallurgy and HT stuff. Thanks!

 

[Seedy Lot]

Knife Steel Needs has a good article on 80CrV2.

Some low alloy steels need normalizing and other fun steps before the structure is set up for best heat treat response. 80CrV2 has always been easy and consistent to heat treat with no pre treatment steps for me.

 

[Skinner79]

Thanks! Yes, I saw the Knife Steel Nerds article, but need to go back and read it more thoroughly.

 

[Taz]

It may also depend on where you get the steel from and if it is spheroidized or not? Some suppliers say their steel is ready for HT if you are doing stock removal, others do not mention what state their steel is in, so you may need to do some treatments to it first. For guys who are forging, they don't have to worry about it since they will be doing the processes anyway!