Magnetism and Steel

[Travis Fry]

If a lot of makers would just simply grasp those few paragraphs, and properly define the words therein, they could answer most of their own questions and solve many of their own problems.

^ Wise words there. This is about a simple an explanation of the basics as you'll find.

 

[John Katt]

I downloaded a video once upon a time, And the fella was making a truck spring camp chopper and he said that if the knife wasn't pointing to the north when it was quenched it wouldn't turn out very hard, also the steel had to come from 1960's ford pickups only

The video was entertaining, his wife made the sheaths and he made a forge from ash, mud, pipe and a car heater blower, I felt like they were an older hippie couple living in a commune or something ;0)

 

[gregorio]

An easy way to think about it, when steel is magnetic all the iron atoms are lined up and facing the same direction so they can work together, when you add nickel all the iron atoms are forced to face in different directions and can no longer work as a group

when you heat magnetic steel the heat causes the iron atoms to release the bond they have on each other and allows them to face in different directions

When you add nickel to iron you get permalloy; a well know ferromagnetic alloy. Both iron and nickel are ferromagnetic elements, and I am pretty sure any composition of those two will always be ferromagnetic below the curie temp.

 

[John Katt]

I said an EASY way to think about it greg ;0)

 

[Rhinoknives1]

I downloaded a video once upon a time, And the fella was making a truck spring camp chopper and he said that if the knife wasn't pointing to the north when it was quenched it wouldn't turn out very hard, also the steel had to come from 1960's ford pickups only

The video was entertaining, his wife made the sheaths and he made a forge from ash, mud, pipe and a car heater blower, I felt like they were an older hippie couple living in a commune or something ;0)

John,
I am suprised that he didn't say that you had to use a 1960's VW spring steel and do all of this at a full moon. ;-)

 

[John Katt]

I have a feeling if a hippie was to sacrifice a VW spring for a knife, he would be kicked out of the hippie union and would be forced to turn in all his tie-dye T-shirts ;0)

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

We are drifting guys.

 

[gregorio]

Thanks for the informative post Stacy. It lead to a good discussion and learning.

It is better to learn general rules than understand every last detail, because that is a never ending road.