normalizing 416

[Ryan Minchew]

I've been working on some slip joints and spot welded my 416 bolsters onto the liners. It was asked in another thread if I had normalized my bolsters. At that point I had not, but later on did what I had written in my notes. I had to remove the hard spots from spot welding bring the bolster up to cherry red using a torch. I did that, but now that I think about it, that doesn't seem right. On that knife it didn't matter, you couldn't see spots after I polished it out. The knife I am working on now does matter though, the reason being is it is going to be engraved. What do I need to do so that the knife can be engraved? Thanks for any help.

 

[mete]

Heating to 1450 F and air cool should be enough as a free machining grade like 416 is not too difficult to engrave . For full anneal 1500-1650 F ,slow cool , for maximum softness.

 

[Ryan Minchew]

Thanks for the help mete.