Overheated?

[oralia80]

Hey friends, I overheated an (3lb) axe head I am making (to white hot) and quenched it in water.

For heat treating purposes... what should I do now to harden it? Can I just reheat it to a cherry and quench it properly? Or do I need to anneal it first?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Square_peg]

Was it sparking at white hot? If so your probably damaged the steel, especially where it's thinnest at the edge. Any steel that got to sparking hot should be ground off.

What type of steel are you using?

Quenching in water from white hot should have made it brittle hard. A file test will confirm that. But quenching from that heat likely built up some major stresses in the steel. I would definitely re-heat it and soon before it cracks. And try an oil quench next time. Then after quenching give it an hour long soak in a 500° oven. Then file test it. If it's still too hard give it an hour at 525°.

 

[Bo T]

Was it sparking at white hot? If so your probably damaged the steel, especially where it's thinnest at the edge. Any steel that got to sparking hot should be ground off.

What type of steel are you using?

Quenching in water from white hot should have made it brittle hard. A file test will confirm that. But quenching from that heat likely built up some major stresses in the steel. I would definitely re-heat it and soon before it cracks. And try an oil quench next time. Then after quenching give it an hour long soak in a 500° oven. Then file test it. If it's still too hard give it an hour at 525°.

+1 If the steel didn't harden after the quench from white hot, then it is not a good ax steel. Even if it did harden, it probably has some serious grain growth and should be normalized and re quenched from a lower temperature.

 

[BG_Farmer]

Heat to red and anneal in ashes or Sand hours/overnight. Then test with file. If it is workable, quench/harden and temper appropriately.

If the first anneal doesn't work, you might try to go to a higher temp before anneal and try again.

This is supplement to other posts, not contradiction. Quenching in water after white hot will have made it as brittle or more so than glass. Even for water quenched steel, warmed oil (or oil on water) is much safer, especially with thin pieces. Many spec's are written for 1" (iirc) thick pieces, and procedures need to be adapted for small parts.