Question about quenching

S

Sprayman

Joined
Nov 15, 2014
Messages
257
Hi Guys:

I'm making a run of kiridashi knives as Christmas gifts. It's my first time making this style, and so far, they're looking pretty good. The steel is 1084. Would you heat treat and quench the whole knife, or just the edge?

Thanks
 
Easier to just do the whole thing.


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If I was doing it in my forge I would get the blade to temp and quench. In the furnace, I'd do the whole thing.
 
I find I have the most success with edge quenching because I end up with less warping during the quench.
 
In a forge I head as much of it as I can but focusing on the blade. I will heat the tang area fists then flip the blade around and heat the blade. In an oven it does not matter becaus the entire knife cows up to temp. I don't edge quench becaus I quench verticle. If I want the spine softer I will draw the the spine down in hardness with a torch. I don't even care about warps and bows any more. Thy happen oh well just fix it is my thought. I use to stress over warps so much it's not even funny. But now that I straighten while tempering I don't care it's just another step in knife making. I am after stress free knife making :)
 
Metallurgically, doing the whole blade is better. Martensite is stronger than pearlite. The tang and upper blade can be drawn back with a torch to give a differential temper if desired.

In practicality, on a kiridashi it doesn't matter. If you edge quench, make sure that at least 1" of the blade past the edge is at the target temperature.

When doing a batch of blades and using an oven, the whole lot can be heated together, and then removed one at a time for quenching.
 
Thanks for all of the tips, guys. I'm heating them in my forge, so I think I'll just go ahead and heat them and quench them from tip to tip.

Happy holidays!

Sprayman
 
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