Is this blade screwed? What looks like micro cracks.

N

NavTech

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Feb 25, 2018
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This is 1095 I heat treated it in canola oil that was heated up with some scrap steel. Heated the blade up to just past non magnetic. I've quenched and tempered 1095 before without any issues. I sanded the blade down to 500 grit didn't see anything until after I had etched in a muriatic acid/peroxide mixture. Just curious if these are actual cracks or just from the acid etch. I'd hate for all this work to go to waste. Sorry for the link for whatever reason it wasn't letting me embed the picture.
https://imgur.com/6ETceFV
 
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I can’t really tell from your pic, it’s too grainy... Use more light in your pics, it’ll make them sharper.
Try putting some layout dye on it, then sanding super gently with a high grit paper. If it’s cracked the dye should stay in the cracks and be removed on the flats.
 
Looks like maybe forging below minimum forging heat.
As mentioned, try grinding down a bit and re-etching.
 
Thank for the suggestions I will try sanding down and re etching and see if that does anything I'll post back with results. Hopefully they'll go away.
 
It was stock removal process. But they were definitely cracks. A pretty mild stress test done on a half rotted log and the blade snapped. Oh well, time to start over.
 
How did you heat it for heat treating? By eye in a forge?
 
Had you tempered the knife before chopping with it ?
 
I heated it up in a forge checked it with magnet once it stopped attracting the magnet I put it in the forge just a hair longer to bring it just passed critical then quenched it. Afterwords, I put it in the oven at 400F for 2 hours checking the temper colors. Once it reached a straw color I removed it. Yes it was tempered for chopping with it.
 
ya sure it was 1095, and you didn't get it confused with another steel? i done that the other day but as soon as i heard the tink when i quenched it i knew i had grabbed the wrong steel, and sure enough i had. i quenched 5160 in brine lol. i thought i had used 1095.
 
Hey, it's better that you found out and not a customer. We all loose a few now and then. Did you normalize/heat cycle the blade before austenitizing and quenching?
 
Yeah 100% sure it was 1095 seeing as how that is the only steel I have. I like working with 1095 so for the most part it's the only type I have. I did about 3 normalizing cycles before I quenched it, sometimes the stars align I suppose and Murphy's law kicks in. I am by no meams an expert I've only been toying around with knife making for about 4-5 months so it could have been entirely my fault and I just missed something not sure. Sadly this was for a guy I work with who wanted to me to make him a skinning knife. Oh well, I drew out a chunk of 1095 the other night and will start to remake the blade. I'm hoping I can salvage the handle material off the busted knife.
 
That is some good sized grain. What is your forge set up and what did you do to normalize the steel? Temperatures used?
 
My forge is a propane forge I ordered online from mathewson metals. Gets hot enough to forge weld with. I just heated the steel up to past non magnetic held it for abit and then let it cool to room temp a few times. I don't know the exact temps.
 
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I’m guessing the grain size is from it being annealed stock and not overheating. You possibly didn’t go high enough with your first normalizing heat to get everything into solution. 1600 is your first normalizing heat and that’s a bit past non-magnetic.
 
You should be going to 1650F - 1700F to get everything into solution. You may have not heated the steel enough to refine the grain.
 
Thanks for the help. Im working on a new blade and I will try and make sure i get it right this time. Hopefully everything works out.
 
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