O1-damascus hardness

[Claude Marquis]

I make and heat treat my own damascus in a charcoal forge. Previously, I used to test the harness of my blades with files. Only recently I had a O1/1020 damascus blade "scientifically" tested. The result was a 58 Rockwell hardness after oil hardening and double tempering. As it is my first experience, I don't know if this value is satisfactory, or if better values can be expected. Does anyone have experience?
Thanks for the input,
Claude

 

[Fox Creek]

was this hardness determined from one impression point or from several? I understand that with damascus you have to be careful as the point of the hardness tester may detect a different hardness depending on what lamination it is on, plus the a thin hard lamination may deflect into a softer lamination underneath and give a false reading. I suppose you could do several readings at random and then average the results. I would think that Rockwell C of 58 would be fine as long as there are no softer areas on cutting edge. How does it cut? The proof is in the pudding as they say.

 

[Gerome Weinand]

claude
it would depend on how much 1020 you mixed in with the 01 if you used only 1/3 and you have good carbon migration you shoud be the same all over for a rc test

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All that is not Given Is Lost

 

[AchimW]

Hello!
We use O-1 and Krupp A20 in a 1 to 1 mixture, which gives a really beautiful damascus because of the 4 % Ni content of the A20. An oil hardened and tempered blade was tested on several spots on the blade and the tang giving results of 60 and 61 HRc in all tests. The A20 has about 0,4 % carbon.

Achim