So last night I was cleaning up the blade and wanted to test the edge so I put a quick rough edge on it and tested edge deformation by hitting a piece of mild steel. If the blade dents and curles it is to soft if the edge chips the blade is to hard and if I get no damage or only get a slight flat spot it is perfect.
well it dented pretty bad so I took a file to it and it cut as if the steel was annealed. At this point I was very confused so next I tested flex strength because if some how I annealed it. the blade would bend and not break. So I hammered about 2 inches into a tree and started pulling on it I got to about 45 degrees where I would expect a very hard blade to easily flex and go back straight so then I went to just barely past 45 and it snapped as if it was like 59 to 58 rc so I inspected the blade for bends and there was none it was straight. When I saw the edge performance, I expected the blade to bend not snap especially at around 50 degrees. So then I inspected the grain, it was not good. I am guessing because, I have never heat treated a blade of this size, that the blade near the tip was over heated numerous times because my thermal couple is 2 inches from the opening of the kiln so the back gets much hot when ramping.
So I tested the edge near the handle with the file, with the same results. So confused with this steel. I am going to first get a exhaust pipe so that I can get much more consistent heat results. Then I am going to start over with 5160.
maybe all that heat treating voodoo really does not do well with this steel lol
well it dented pretty bad so I took a file to it and it cut as if the steel was annealed. At this point I was very confused so next I tested flex strength because if some how I annealed it. the blade would bend and not break. So I hammered about 2 inches into a tree and started pulling on it I got to about 45 degrees where I would expect a very hard blade to easily flex and go back straight so then I went to just barely past 45 and it snapped as if it was like 59 to 58 rc so I inspected the blade for bends and there was none it was straight. When I saw the edge performance, I expected the blade to bend not snap especially at around 50 degrees. So then I inspected the grain, it was not good. I am guessing because, I have never heat treated a blade of this size, that the blade near the tip was over heated numerous times because my thermal couple is 2 inches from the opening of the kiln so the back gets much hot when ramping.
So I tested the edge near the handle with the file, with the same results. So confused with this steel. I am going to first get a exhaust pipe so that I can get much more consistent heat results. Then I am going to start over with 5160.
maybe all that heat treating voodoo really does not do well with this steel lol