Newbie questions on hardening/tempering

[TheThurmanator]

Hi there, new member here working on my first serious blade smiting project. I'm hoping someone can help me with a bowie that I'm working on. I'm a fairly competent blacksmith and machinist, so shaping the blade from the rough blank I've made. However after I've worked it in the forge, I'll have to re-harden and temper the steel, something I've never done. My first question is how do I tell what type of steel it is? I am hoping to use the oil bath method to harden it as I know that it was oil hardened originally, but I'm not sure what type of steel and thus if there's a specific oil I need to use. My second question is what temperature do I have to heat the metal to temper it correctly for optimal hardness? From what I've read, a conventional oven around 425F is what I should do, but I don't know for how long or if that is also dependent on the steel type, hardening method, etc.

 

[Russ Andrews]

Thurmanator.
You need to know what steel you're working with before you can answer
the other questions.
Can the person who oil quenched it before tell you...?

 

[mete]

First find some metallurgy tutorials on the sticky on Makers forum , then join us there .It's usually much better not do deal with" mystery steel". In the long run it's cheaper and less frustrating to buy a known steel and go from there.

 

[TheThurmanator]

^^^
Will do.

I don't actually know who did it, just that I found some steel stock in the metal shop I work in that was marked "oil hardened", so out of boredom I started tinkering with it, and now I've actually made a shape I'd like to take to the forge more or less by accident.