L-6 experiments

I was told to use salt pots with L-6. I understand the nickle makes them so tough. I would like to experiment with it more myself.
 
You might try a little file testing on the blades to see if they are softer than you expected since they didn't hold an edge as anticipated. Take a new file and see how easy your L6 blades are to cut compared to your 5160. Maybe your tempering was longer than needed.
 
Same steel as you, except maybe smaller, mine is 3/4" round bar. I temper at 380 deg. F. if I remember rite, will have to wait till I get home to check my notes.
 
Jeff, I just tested them with a file, and the two L-6 blades feel as hard as my 5160 blade.
According to the data sheet, tempering at 375 should result in a hardness of 63-63. I don't think the length of time at that temp would make a difference. (someone correct me if I'm wrong)
 
Does tripple temper work with O1? I'm thinking vs single forge temper, not vs paragon oven, since I don't have one.

Also, what good does freezing in the freezer do, not exactly absolute zero. I have tried it with some blades just because I read about it in Ed Fowler. WHat is the theory.
 
Protactical said:
Does tripple temper work with O1? I'm thinking vs single forge temper, not vs paragon oven, since I don't have one.

Also, what good does freezing in the freezer do, not exactly absolute zero. I have tried it with some blades just because I read about it in Ed Fowler. WHat is the theory.
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Do you mean triple harden? If so, I hope to answer that question (at least to my own satisfaction) with some experiments I'm doing right now with O1 and 5160.

I think the idea behind freezing is that steels which have chrome in them (maybe other steels too) tend to retain austenite after hardening, and freezing helps transform that into martensite. I don't know if the relatively warm temp of a home freezer actually does any good, but it's there, it's cheap and I don't think it will hurt, so I do it. If I were doing more blades at a time, I'd probably use liquid nitrogen, but it's hardly worth it for one or two.

I all you have for heat treating is a forge, I'd definitely recommend triple quenching.
 
Phillip Patton said:
Do you mean triple harden? If so, I hope to answer that question (at least to my own satisfaction) with some experiments I'm doing right now with O1 and 5160.
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I once saw it explained that the triple harden can have a benefit on some steels that require several minutes soak at temp, such as O-1. By soaking it at temp, you can get lots of secondary carbides that improve edge retention. If you're heat treating with a torch or forge and can't soak it like you would in an oven, then triple hardening does much of the same thing that the soak would. But if you're using an oven/salt pots anyway, and keeping perfect control on the temperature and soak times, the triple hardening should not be any benefit. (at least according to the scientists.)
 
If the data sheet for a particular steel says to soak for 30 minutes, that's talking about 1" thick material, right? How does that translate to knife making? Does anyone have a chart of soak times for different steels, geared toward knifemakers?
 
Thanks fitzo, that's more or less what I was looking for. My main concern is with grain growth. I know soaking helps with carbide solution, but will it cause grain growth? Will soaking at the proper temp cause grain growth, or is it just overheating that does that?
 
Grain growth is slow if recommended temps aren't exceeded. It's really not the worry people make it out to be provided the temp is correct. Get it overtemp, though, and it will take off.

A really excellent way to learn some great metallurgy from the knifemakers' viewpoint is to click on Kevin Cashen's name, select "Find All Posts", and start reading. He's given some really wonderful info that is worthy of copying into a Word doc and printing out.
 
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