Need someone to heat treat a blade for me

[Myakka]

If this is not just the only blade you think you wish to make heat treat it yourself. You should, in that case, learn the heat treat any way and now is the best time to start. Enjoy your trip over seas and while there plan your forge making. You can make a simple one using refactory cement. The O1 steel is a perfect steel to start with and a steel the best knife makers still use. If you are going to make a blade you might as well be the one to make the most important part of it, the heat treat.

rlinger
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Hey, Roger,
Good to see you on the forums, again

Ron

 

[Lukas]

I'm worried about having put too much stress on the blade due to the repeated tempering attempts, but there are no cracks visible on the blade.
Does anyone know where I can host images? I'd like to post some pictures when I'm done but I don't have anywhere to upload them.

 

[rlinger]

Thanks Ron. Don't get here as often as I used to but still like to.

Lukas, of course tempering is only one component of the heat treat. A very important part of course. You can temper it til the cows come home and not have to worry about it causing physical damage. Where you can get into trouble is not placing into temper soon enough after quench. I like to not allow my blades fall below 'hand warm' after quench before placing into pre-heated temper.

rlinger
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[Lukas]

Thanks Ron. Don't get here as often as I used to but still like to.

Lukas, of course tempering is only one component of the heat treat. A very important part of course. You can temper it til the cows come home and not have to worry about it causing physical damage. Where you can get into trouble is not placing into temper soon enough after quench. I like to not allow my blades fall below 'hand warm' after quench before placing into pre-heated temper.

rlinger
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Great, thats what I did, I quenched as soon as I took the blade from the heat, let it cool until I could touch it, removed some of the scale to test with a file, and then put in the oven at 425f for an hour, let cool to room temp and cycled it in the oven for another hour, let it cool again, and put it in the oven for another hour for 3 cycles total. In the end the steel had a slight golden hue to it but it went away after I removed all the scale. I actually finished the knife last night and am fairly pleased seeing how its my first, I'd love to post some pics if I knew how.

 

[rlinger]

Very good Lukas. As time passes you will become more confident and skip the time used to file test before temper. I might recommend not stressing the blade after cooling to hand warm or below until after a temper session. I am sure you hurt nothing but we do not want to hear the dreaded ping sound. Four hundred twenty five F. is okay for your O1. You can drop it down to about 400 F. or slightly below for your second temper. Two full one hour temper sessions should be adequate and always use at least one trusted oven thermometer. Never trust the analog oven dial. If needed, additional tempering sessions can be used to drop the hardness. Temperature of temper has a large effect on that also. Try not to temper your O1 below about 400 F. for the first temper. I would not go above about 425 F. though for a O1 knife blade. Also, you might do a search on snap tempering. That can come in handy at times depending on circumstances.

rlinger
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