no normalize = crack?

RMLamey

RMLamey

Joined
Nov 13, 1998
Messages
2,598
Finished a very nice 10" bowie. I had a good 4 hours in the blade. After quinching (the same way ive done it for over 4 years), i set the blade to cool while i quinched some other blades. Maybe a minute after i quinched the blade in question i hear a loud "PING" from the direction of that blade.

I think.... NO WAY did that blade just crack. Then reality seized me and i remember that i didnt normalize the blade, nope not even 1 cycle.

My question is this, did the blade crack due to lack of normalization?
And no the blade wasnt over heated prior to quinch.
 
Hey Matt....

I had that happen with a small O1 blade once. It did it after the quench when I had it on the belt to clean it up before the temper. I heard it "ping" and went over and tapped it on the anvil and it cracked in 2 pieces.

The only thing that I can attribute it to was that I did noe normalize the blade before the quench. Rest assured, I do it all the time now.

Greg
 
Matt
It happens when you least expect it. Normalizing is a good habit to get into.
What did you lay the blade down on while quenching the next blade?
Was it cold steel?
If your hammer dies, press dies, anvil or tools are cold this will cause problems from time to time with certain steels also. Pre heat your tools.
The forge monster gets angry when you disobey the rules.
It (the forge monster) is like murphy in some respects.;)
 
Darrel, set it on a the face of my anvil, which was hot. I usually hang them from the pin hole in the tang, so nothing is touching the blade etc....
 
I have had sucsess a few years ago be fore I knew the benefits of normalizing,quenching without normalizing.I have the same problem you did even with normalized blades,I have also had warpage happen after setting the blade down to cool on its own while I quenched another b;ade.I figured out the problem for both the crack and the warp.It was because I was setting them on a cold anvil and it was pulling heat from one side only,I now have a piece of square tubing set on end so the blade rests on the thin walls and so the heat leaves evenly and have not had the warp or Crack happen again,It's a trip to look at the blade after quenching and it is straight,then go back in a couple of hours to retrieve the cool bladse only to find that it has warpped on you....
Good Luck.
Bruce
 
What kind of steel was your bowie? Was this austenitized in the forge or a kiln? Did you forge, then go straight to hardening or did you run any other kind of anneal prior to hardening? What was your quench and its temp? I assume this blade had not yet been tempered?

Without really knowing much else, I would have to say your blade cracked due to not immediately tempering. If you are unable to immediately temper, you might also consider some variation of a post quench stress relief, at least to avoid the cracks. Then get to the tempering as soon as possible.

My two cents.

-Jason
 
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