Most effective thermal cycling for 26C3?

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shqxk

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Mar 26, 2012
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What is your most effective method to preparing the micro structure of 26C3 prior quenching?
I usually do 1580F for 10 mins as normalizing
Then 1450F for 15 mins air cool and another 1450F for 10 mins quench in fast oil as grain refinement. Then 1200F for 2 hours as temper annealing. So the starting structure prior quenching is a well-tempered martensite.
I got around 67-67.5HRC as quenched with this method with 1475F austenitizing/fast oil quench. I would love to know what others people method of dealing with this steel and what is the result, Thanks
 
The nice thing about 26C3 is that it's ready to aus out of the gate. I aus at 1475 deg for 10 min and dunk in fast oil. I've been getting RC67 out of the quench.
Here is from AKS website:

26C3 Carbon Steel Information and Composition​

Condition:
This alloy been properly annealed and is in the soft condition. You do not have to do any non-standard wasteful processes before heat treating. The steel must be heat treated to get to a hardened state. Follow the heat treat recipe and the steel will harden.
 
Same.

The only change I make is when I shoot for a hamon. I'll cycle it one time at 1500°F to change from spheroidite to pearlite, then 1475°F for hardening. Not sure that it really matters, but that's what I do.
 
The issue of preparing the micro structure comes info play when 26C3 has been forged, say in San Mai or Go Mai. Would anybody care to address that?
 
Personally I would treat it like 52100. After forging normalize at ~1700°F, thermal cycle a couple of times ~1500°F, DET anneal (1460°F for 20 minutes down to 1200°F at ~666°F per hour, air or furnace cool), then on to hardening (1475°F for 10 minutes, fast oil quench).
 
I do 1700f 10min, 1450 5min, and 1400f 30min, cooling at 670f/h to 1200, air cool, then depending if I dabble in water in sanmai or parks 50 in monosteel I do 1436f 10min (water) or 1470f 10min (parks 50). The water quench is a smidge harder, needs to go close to 400f to go below 65hrc whereas I get these numbers around 350f in parks. The edge is that little something crispier to deburr after a water quench too. Definitely very little austenite this way, and in san mai almost never had a cracked blade with my method.
 
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