L-6 annealing and hardening

rotor

rotor

Joined
Mar 18, 1999
Messages
184
I need a little help.
my neighbor gave me abuot 6 feet of L-6 its about 2 1/2 inches wide and 1/8th of an inch thick.I have enough to make couple of carving
knives. I need to know how to anneal it because all I have is a hack saw for cutting
and it barely sratches it.I also need to know how to properly harden it.
Thanks
Russell A Scheringer
rotor@sprintmail.com
 
To anneal the metal you need to bring it to it's critical temperature. For L-6 its approximately 1450F-1550F. One way to find out if it has reached the critical temperature is by checking it with a magnet. At this temperature, the metal is non-magnetic. That is, a magnet won't stick to it. Get a magnet on a long handle.

Once it reaches the critical temperature, it needs to be cooled slowly. What i do is place it back in the forge, turn off the blower, then turn off the propane. Then close up the forge. Let it cool.

To harden the metal, bring it up to the critical temperature, then quench. Quenching medium is a personal choice. Some use motor oil or transmission fluid, or a combination of the two. I use cooking oil. Now the blade will be at it's hardest, but it will be brittle. You need to "draw back" the brittleness by tempering. You do this in your kitchen oven. Two to three hours at 350F to 550F (depending on the what the blade will be used for) then quenched.

I reccommend you do some studying of these procedures before you give them a try. There are no absolutes, and there are some dangers. I read "The Complete Bladesmith" by Jim Hrisoulas. It's got alot of good information
 
A good book for dealing with L-6 (and a nice resource for people without access to a lot of expensive tools) is Step-by-step Kinfemaking (You can do it!) by David Boye from Rodale Press. He uses L-6 in his examples of how to heat treat etc.
If you have access to a oxy/aceteline torch, you can use that to cut it. I just cut two chef blades out of L-6 last night with a torch. It does make for a lot of extra grinding if you do it that way though.
Good Luck,
Happycat
 
Heat to 1450 deg f , hold for 1 hour for small lot sizes, coll at a rate no faster than 40 deg per hour untill 1100 deg,

Heat treat to 1500 deg f, hold for 15 mins for knife blades, quench in warm agitated oil.
Temper at 450-550 depending on the temper hardness you want. 60 rc is around 450--- 525
= 58 rc.

------------------
Web Site At www.infinet.com/~browzer/bldesmth.html
Take a look!!!




 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top