Junk 1095???

L

Lt.Col.Vortex

Joined
Jul 22, 2012
Messages
752
So I came across a file today while cleaning up our burn pit. The pit had just been used the day before so the scrap metal that was left in the ashes was warm.

So my question, is the file trashed now that its been heated and cooled improperly?? The fire maybe got the file up to 800 or so degrees F, then it cooled for about a day. For annealing this is too cool, but should I just try and work the metal and hope for the best? the file is a small one, 3/4 " wide, 1/8 " thick and 5" long. Its not warped or anything, just improperly annealed.
 
The first question would be where was the file made. If it's American or Swiss, you might play with it. If it's Chinese, Indian or Pakistani, throw it back.

The next, and real question is: why mess with it when real 1095 is so cheap? You can buy some good 1095 and have a real knife for a few dollars in steel, rather than putting the effort in something questionable. Your choice, but if you aren't sure what it is and know it has been treated poorly, do you want to waste the effort?

Gene
 
I forgot the brand, will look it up in the morning.

And i'm tossing around the idea because its sitting in my shop and it cost me nothing to acquire....that and I need practice with metal working.
 
If it is 1095 it may have gotten to the mid 40s HRc at 800. It won't hurt anything to try working it and see how it goes. The file might have gotten a lot hotter, too.
 
you are working a file that is 1/8 inch thick, by the time you get to the bottom of the teeth you will have a little over a 16th of an inch of steel. Don't waste your time

-Page
 
sunshadow said:
you are working a file that is 1/8 inch thick, by the time you get to the bottom of the teeth you will have a little over a 16th of an inch of steel. Don't waste your time

-Page
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I was thinking the same thing today when looking at it. Its a Nicholson by the way, I was happy to see that. A file will bite it so I'll try working it and hope for the best. If I cant make a knife out of it I'll at least try tempering/heat treating it and see if I can cool it fast enough.
 
Lt.Col.Vortex said:
If I cant make a knife out of it I'll at least try tempering/heat treating it and see if I can cool it fast enough.
Click to expand...

I think you have the right idea.

It's worth playing with as a practice piece, for grinding or forging, and/or experimenting with your heating and quenching. It's already paid for so if you have the time, I say go ahead and find out what you can do with it. Make a KSO out of it, see if you can anneal and re-HT it, get it sharp and see if it cuts well, then see what it takes to break it and take a close look at how it breaks.
 
Making a shop knife is a great way to test lots of parameters! "Drive it like you stole it".
 
sunshadow said:
you are working a file that is 1/8 inch thick, by the time you get to the bottom of the teeth you will have a little over a 16th of an inch of steel. Don't waste your time

-Page
Click to expand...

If you forge it instead of stock removal, then the teeth don't really matter. Plus it's quite nice to have a reminder of where the steel came from. You don't have to remove every trace of the teeth, just enough to not create any stress risers.

EDIT: Nicholson files have an equal chance of being W1/W2
 
parbajtor said:
If you forge it instead of stock removal, then the teeth don't really matter.
Click to expand...

Actually, there's a fair amount of research indicating that the teeth do matter quite a bit when forging. Hammering rough spots like teeth back into the billet is not helpful... it's almost guaranteed to cause inclusions, voids and weak spots.
 
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