I have been working on a knife for my brother in law. 1095 steel, spine was just under 3/16" thick. Took the edge down to .040" before HT, and had a pretty decent 400 grit belt finish on it prior to HT. Went to heat treat it this afternoon.
Ramped up the Evenheat to 1475, held for 15 minutes, then straight into brine for the quench. I moved the blade through the water to avoid the steam jacket, and when the bubbling stopped I removed the blade from the quench, tested it with my hand to see if it was cool enough to handle-which it was, and inspected the blade. It had a slight warp, but nothing I was really concerned about. It was all in one piece, and had no visual cracks that I could see. Grabbed a file and it skated along the edge. Admired it for a few more seconds, then decided to tap it on the bench top to see if there were was anything I was missing, and thats when it snapped the first 4 inches off the blade. I did not tap it that hard, or so I thought. I do not know if it was cracked prior, or simply because it was glass hard and I wacked it harder than it could take at that hardness (somewhere around 67-68 RC?). But anyways, pictures below showing the fail, for your enjoyment.
Ramped up the Evenheat to 1475, held for 15 minutes, then straight into brine for the quench. I moved the blade through the water to avoid the steam jacket, and when the bubbling stopped I removed the blade from the quench, tested it with my hand to see if it was cool enough to handle-which it was, and inspected the blade. It had a slight warp, but nothing I was really concerned about. It was all in one piece, and had no visual cracks that I could see. Grabbed a file and it skated along the edge. Admired it for a few more seconds, then decided to tap it on the bench top to see if there were was anything I was missing, and thats when it snapped the first 4 inches off the blade. I did not tap it that hard, or so I thought. I do not know if it was cracked prior, or simply because it was glass hard and I wacked it harder than it could take at that hardness (somewhere around 67-68 RC?). But anyways, pictures below showing the fail, for your enjoyment.
