Just quenched 1st blade...straightening warpage?

FlaMtnBkr

FlaMtnBkr

Joined
Oct 20, 2004
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So I just quenched my first blade. It is 3/16" 1080 and I clay coated the spine. I quenched it in 125 degree vegetable oil and I got a little warpage along the spine and ricasso. Is there anyway of getting it straight? I'm about to do the first temper at 375 so hopefully that is ok to do. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!!!

Ryan
 
You have a couple of choices.One is to straighten immediately after quench in a vise or on the anvil.The other is to anneal the blade,straighten it out on the anvil ,normalize the blade a couple of times,and re-quench.After temper the only choice is to anneal and re-work the blade.A good thing to remember (especially when you are new) is to normalize two or three times prior to quench.My suggestion is to do the whole process again.Make sure the clay is even and on good,so no side gets cooled faster than the other.
Stacy
 
Thanks for the quick reply. Well its already in the oven getting the first temper. Its not warped much at all, but enough to notice when looking down the spine. I might just leave it like it is and cough it up to being my first knife. I think it is warped the most at the ricasso where it shouldnt be real hard so I might just try putting it in the vise and try not to break it. I think the clay might have been the problem because I got it put on good but then dropped it and it all fell off so I put some more on in a hurry. Thanks again!
 
Wait! Stop! Don't be too quick to re-anneal and decarb your edge. IF you get this message in time you can salvage that blade just fine, in fact the differential hardening thing will make it very easy to fix. Take and old cotton rag or prefferably some ceramaic wool and get it soaking wet and use little spring clamps to hold it on your edge for thermal protection. Put one end of the blade in a vice and then heat the exact area of the spine where the bend is with a torch until you get a good purple color and while heating bend it straight. You can start moving some alloys at just above 400F. but they really move easy at 500 or better. If you have an "S" curve, let the first strightened kink cool and then heat the next one and pull it the other way until straight.
 
Hey thank you for the reply. That sounds like a pretty good idea...I was just going to throw it in the vise and yank on it some. Its really probably only 1-2 degrees from straight but enough to be noticeable. I dont have the best light outside where I had my forge and was trying to hurry things last night and that is probably why it got goofed up because I was trying to hurry and couldnt see well. It got to be late so after the first temper I put it in the deep freezer where the thermometer reads about 0 degrees so I could wait until this afternoon to temper again. Do you think I should temper and when its all done try and straighten it or straighten and then temper?

Also on a side note...I have read about people that take their blades down to a fairly fine hand rubbed finish before heat treating. After doing my first blade I cant imagine doing the because of all the scale (and therefore light pitting) from the forge. Does this mean I have the wrong atmosphere inside my forge? Would I get less scale with a torch? Will it all knock off as soon as I give it a light sanding? Thanks again!

Ryan
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
good idea...I was just going to throw it in the vise and yank on it some.
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Thanks for the laugh. I almost spit coffee on my computer screen when I read that. :)
 
Danbo said:
Thanks for the laugh. I almost spit coffee on my computer screen when I read that. :)
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No Problem!!! Too bad I wan't kidding :D

I'm sure if some of you makers were watching me with this first blade it would have been like a night at the comedy club!

I guess with enough mistakes I'll learn at least what not to do...

Ryan
 
rhrocker said:
Kevin, are you saying to straighten it first using your method, then temper?
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I would alwyas be in favor of no delay in tempering, so I would do it after the initial temper, there would also be less chance of any fractures in a tempered edge from the yanking and pulling.

This all just redundant fail safe after the marquenching that I practice. While the blade is still around 400F. in the quench I would make sure everything was straight before fully hard. If any kinks got by me, I would then try to see if I could just pull them a bit in the temper (my alloys like 400F.+ tempers ;) ) . If there was still a problem after all of this I would then resort to the method I have described.

Proper pre-heat treatments before hardening will eliminate most distortion problems, a good heating and quenching system will eliminate the rest (my distortion problems decreased by approx. 70% when I started using salts for heating), but occasionally Murphy and his law will sneak one by you ;) .
 
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