Question about forge heat treat, and a forge ht tip.

[Ian Fifelski]

When heat treating in a forge, how bad is the effect of heating and cooling slightly while getting to temp? Or does it not effect the steel?
To clarify what I mean, When heating up the knife, the edge heats quicker and the spine slower. And when cooling, the edge cools quicker and the spine slower. You can use this to even out the heat of the spine and edge. To get an even heat you need to let the edge cool a bit by pulling it out of the forge for a few seconds. I normally get the edge and tip up to critical (not over) and cool to get the spine heat even, probably about 6 times. Does thing do anything to the steels performance.

And a tip for makers using a forge to heat-treat. Forge for a bit (or just let it heat up awhile) and then shut off the gas. For my forge at least, if gives me an incredibly even and controllable heat for a forge HT.

Thanks.

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

That's how it's normally done.

 

[Ian Fifelski]

Turning the forge off?

In the many videos I see of heat treating on social media, the burners are running full, heats are uneven and look way to hot. Hopefully this helps people that didn't know that's how its normally done. (me when I started)

 

[joedhiggins]

In lieu of turning it off, make a muffle from some round or square tube. Run the forge on low with a TC. It will give a much more even heat. Won't have to fight the uneven heating any more.