is it possible to overheat 1095 steel?

L

lockjawbladeworks

Joined
Aug 15, 2013
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12
Hi i was hardening some blades today in my forge and left a few in too long and they melted :( the other four, however made it out with only minor warping and im wondering if its possible to "overheat" when hardening .as in get to the point just before melting. obviously the 4 in this pic are ruined but what about the ones that just "nearly" melted? will it weaken the steel? thanks for your help:thumbup:
10502655_898279283519782_2024715659_n.jpg
 
Yes, the grain growth will be extreme. 1095 will be overheated long before you get to melting temps. You can possibly fix it by thermal cycling...
 
WOW .. You done bad my friend. Just chalk it up as a painful learned lesson and start over . I can't think of one reason to even consider spending another second even discussing this.
 
The steel about an inch behind the blade is salvageable. If you are forging you can make something else with them. I burnt a piece of 1095 off of the start of a knife. It made a good flint striker. Spend a couple of weeks reading the stickies then show us a picture of your surviving blades with your questions. OUCH!
 
I would chuck the whole batch.

The biggest problem was using a sledge hammer to put in a 4 penny finishing nail.
I would bet you had the forge running full blast ( or a big bed of coals with the blower blasting) when you were doing HT. HT is the lowest heat your forge will need. For 1095 that will be about 1500F. Running the forge at 2800F will only shorten the life of the forge and end the life of the blades in it. Learn to tune the forge to run at the heat needed for the task.

Tell us about your forge and HT methods.
 
Just a tip, read everything you possibly can on heat treating before trying again. If you want to use 1095 I would advise a blown forge with temp control or a kiln. You AINT gonna do it RIGHT in coal. It requires a soak time at a specific temperature. If you want to stay with coal for heat treating go to 1075/1080 or 1084. Those knives were WAY overheated. Through them in your scrap bucket and start over. But, before starting some new ones please search the forum for information on heat treating. If you want to make GOOD knives, you will have to read.
 
Wow, serious temperature there.
Are those white speckles in the 2-3 blade up there HUGE carbides?
 
The best you can do with those is to hang them up over your bench or forge as a reminder to never, ever do that again.
 
Another thing I notice is that the tips are gone, but the tang are not.

The goal should be to heat the whole knife evenly to the same temperature.
 
Marko3 said:
WOW .. You done bad my friend. Just chalk it up as a painful learned lesson and start over . I can't think of one reason to even consider spending another second even discussing this.
Click to expand...

let me get this straight, you posted a reply to tell me you don't want to discuss it?
 
I would guess it is unbelievable because you were over 1000 Degrees above the correct temperature for hardening. It is like asking if it is possible to overheat a pizza and then showing us a pizza that has been on fire for awhile. But we all have made mistakes, the important thing is to learn from them and develop a process that works for you and for the kind of knives you want to make. Best of luck!
 
At the moment i have a simple little brake drum forge hooked up to a blow dryer. no real way to set the temp other than the hi/low setting on the hair dryer. i have very little money to invest in a fancy HT oven. any suggestions?
 
i suppose you disagree with that old saying about there being no such thing as a stupid question, huh? im a bit of a novice (can you tell?) and i do appreciate any constructive criticism. i asked because i did not know.anyway. im gonna keep on asking questions and trying new things until i figure it out.
 
Lockjaw,

Just because you don't have alot of money to spend right now doesn't mean that you can't make a good knife. Take some of the advice people above have given:
1) look seriously at 1080/1084 steel as the heat treat is much easier to accomplish with your set-up.
2) read all you can in the stickies above about heat treat so you understand how to get the most out of the steel using good HT practices
3) consider adding a muffle to help even out the heat in your forge
4) you may still find that you have to keep the blade moving inside the muffle in order to get even heating.

Good luck with your blades, and show pics of the end results.

Jeff
 
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