New Shop Tools.

Nice upgrading Darrin! I keep going back and forth on what to buy next. A hardness tester or an electric HT oven. A tool supplier in town has a new hardness tester for $750. It's so tempting! But I'd also like an electric HT oven so I don't have to go outside to HT.....decisions, decisions, decisions!
 
Thanks for all the kind words guys. Don, if I already had a way to H/T I would buy the tester before the kiln. Knowing exactly what your hardness is is worth a lot. At least it is to me. I know hardness isn't everything but it answers one more question and removes any doubt. $750 is a good price for a new tester and since you can buy it local you wont have to pay for shipping.
 
Congrats Darrin! You'll be in hog heaven going from the Grizzly to that variable speed Cadillac. :D

I think a hardness tester is almost a must-have for guys doing a lot of heat-treating. I remember Bob Kramer telling me something similar before I had mine, and I was kind of resistant to that, thinking, "Well I test the heck out of my blades." Which is a CRUCIAL part of the equation... but having a hardness tester just allows a guy to dial in his heat treating methods even more.

I have had a lot of buddies bring something to test, and they tell me that they're "SURE it's at least 61 Rc." But then we test it and find out it's 57.... ;)

It goes the other way too. I recently brine quenched a big ass 1095 blade and wasn't all that sure I even got it hard (just gut feeling type of thing). I ran to the tempering oven and tempered it at 425F. Later I surface ground the ricasso and tested it, it was still 63! Having that knowledge saved me from finish grinding, testing, and then knocking a big chip out of the edge when I realized it was way too hard.

Congratulations again on some GREAT new toys/tools Darrin! :)
 
You're right Nick, I work with so many defferent types and even different batches/smelts of the same steel type that a tester was a must. As bad as I wanted the grinder, if I could have only bought one, it would have been the tester. I had a few pieces tested and even though I was using all the reccomended procedures, some of my Rockwell readings were a little off. I now see what people say about the variables/differences in equipment. The tester just answers one more question and removes one more variable. I think hardness testing & performance testing reinforce one another.
 
Darrin, congratulations on the new equipment. No doubts both will be placed to great use. Have you tested any AEB-L as to the hardness of previous blades in your personal collection?:confused:
 
Thanks Johnny, I have a few AEB-L blades that I've never finished and they test out at HRC 60-61. They were hardened @ 1950, sub-zero treated, & tempered @ 350. One of these days I'm gonna get around to trying out the high temp. tempering you keep telling me about.
 
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