My L-6 heat treat AIN'T working! Help!

Chiro75

Chiro75

Joined
Feb 4, 1999
Messages
5,786
I have a blade all ground down and ready to be heat treated. The person who sent the steel says it is L-6, so I have to trust that. I have given it four attempts and have had no luck...I still have a very soft blade. It is pretty frustrating! The instructions I was given were:
1) Heat to nonmagnetic.
2) Quench in oil.
3) Temper 45 minutes at 400 degrees.

I think what the problem may be is that I am not getting the blade hot enough, but it SEEMS non-magnetic when I touch it to the magnet I have (yes, it is a powerful magnet). I don't have a forge or a very good heat treating setup...this is my first attempt. I am laying the blade on my gas burner on my stove to give it base heat, then running the propane torch back and forth until it seems nonmagnetic, then I go directly to the edge quench in about .5 liter of olive oil. I thought maybe the oil wasn't cooling it fast enough, so I tried water, and that didn't work any better. What do you think???

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Madpoet (Mel Sorg, Jr.) Tribute page:
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I have not had the Problem that you have had I guess Because All the Blade's I have made out of it seem to cut very well and hold a good edge according to my customer's and my own test try just quenching and a 300 deg. temper to a light straw Tank

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TbarK Custom Knives
http://vip.hpnc.com/~tbark Therefore I erge you brother's in view of God's Mercy to offer your body's as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship Romans 12-1
 
Tbark, I haven't even made it to the temper phase because the knife is dead soft right out of the quench. Maybe I misundestand how heat treating works, but here's my impression:


1) Annealed state- soft enough to grind, etc.
2) Critical temp/nonmagnetic- transforms blade crystal structure to martensite? At this point, it should be very hard and a file should skitter right off the edge, correct?
3) Temper- this heating softens the blade to the normal Rc for knives, so it is a balance between tough and hard, correct?

I haven't gotten the knife hard enough yet to temper it even, unless it isn't supposed to resist a file right out of the quench...

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My Knife & Sheath Pages:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/frames.html
Palmer College of Chiropractic
Sheath Makers Referral Directory
agocs_s@dd.palmer.edu
Madpoet (Mel Sorg, Jr.) Tribute page:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/madpoet/main.html
 
I dont know what else to tell you but I know a file will bite a little on the edge because the file is about 62 rc. but I never test it on a file I just follow the procedure of the heat treat and temper and do a cutting test with the Blade I usualy cut 40 6in. incisions in 1/4 in.cardboard and still shave then 25 to 30 cut's in the 3/8 rope to check it then resharpen it and go again to be sure of what it will do

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TbarK Custom Knives
http://vip.hpnc.com/~tbark Therefore I erge you brother's in view of God's Mercy to offer your body's as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship Romans 12-1
 
one Other posibility is I may have sent you the wrong steel you may have some 440 -c stainless but I dont think so when you put it to the grinder does it make alot of Spark or a little if it's a little then it's 440 I had some of the same thickness mat. cut and laying on different shelves in my shop but I don't thinkl it got mixed up but it could have ,Tank
 
This stuff sparks like crazy, so it isn't the 440c. Well, if you think my file may be that hard, then maybe it is hardened properly. I just know that the file bites really easily, as easily as it did when the stuff was fully annealled. Is there a way to tell when the blade is truly non-magnetic? It seems like it is when I test it, like I said, but it may be CLOSE to nonmagnetic and I just don't the experience to tell the difference? Anyway, maybe I'll try it once more and see what happens...

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My Knife & Sheath Pages:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/frames.html
Palmer College of Chiropractic
Sheath Makers Referral Directory
agocs_s@dd.palmer.edu
Madpoet (Mel Sorg, Jr.) Tribute page:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/madpoet/main.html
 
What kind of propane tourch? The small ones with the head you screw on the bottle will not generate enough heat to get the steel to critical. You need a big weed burner type, or oxy acetelyne to get enough heat. Also, I know this depends on the light, but what color is the steel when you are quenching, and is your oil warm?

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www.simonichknives.com
 
Rob, it's the propane torch with a screw-on head. Your usual $15 jobbie. The steel is a nice red color when I go to quench. I acid etched it and it looked like total crap. No temper line whatsoever. The surface looks like an orange peel. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but this isn't working at all.

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My Knife & Sheath Pages:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/frames.html
Palmer College of Chiropractic
Sheath Makers Referral Directory
agocs_s@dd.palmer.edu
Madpoet (Mel Sorg, Jr.) Tribute page:
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Lab/1298/madpoet/main.html
 
Sounds like either you dont have enough heat, or it isnt L6 steel. Even at the red color you should be getting some hardness there, and as easy as a file is cutting it dosent sound like anything is happening. If you want, send it up and I will try to harden it for you and do a Rockwell test.......

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www.simonichknives.com
 


I use/used two or three of the handheld screw on nozzle type propane tanks for heat treating. I just light them all and point the flames toward one another and pass the knife through the flame, that has brought 1/4 inch damascus (01 and L6) up to critical.
Chiro, after the knife goes non-magnetic, put it back in the flame(s) for another minute or so, then quench in warm oil (approx. 150 deg. or so) If you can try to keep the lights low so that you can see the color of the blade. This you can judge when to quench by all the "shadows" being out of a medium orange color. Hope this helps

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KSwinamer

Atheism....A non-prophet organization
 
Your bringing back some memories for me. I simply learned that L6 is not to kind to beginers. I set it aside and purchased some very inexpensive 10 series steel (1075, 1084, 1095). These steels are readily available and heat treat very easily. THe best part is if you screw a blade up your only out your time and a few bucks. 0-1 also heat treats easily, but is more expensive.

I wouldnt let the frustration get to me, send the blade to Rob and buy some 10 series simple carbon steels to start with...Heck, they cut as good as anything anyway.

Matt.

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"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty"
Thomas Jefferson

www.lameyknives.com
 
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