question about virgin steel

O

ophiuchus

Joined
Jun 14, 2015
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heh. heres a noob question for you. i tried to do some digging but turned nothing up. i imagine its a simple answer.

i ordered some 1095 and some d2, 1\8 inch flat stock. what condition are they in, in terms of heat treating? are they already annealed? already ht'd? does it vary from steel to steel? or perhaps from manufacturer to manufacturer?

thanks!
 
Well it depends on what you bought and from who,, but generally speaking bar stock is not heat treated yet.
 
Usually spherodized.......about as soft as steel can get......ready to cut/drill/file......then heat treat.
 
Make sure you know what you want and order that. High carbon, like 1095 will be very difficult to drill. Speroidized will be much easier to drill.
HRA [ hot rolled annealed ] would give pearlitic structure [hard to drill ]
Spheroidized annealed for drilling.Here the carbides are spheres.

If you already have the steel ,such as HRA , you can spheroidize it with a 1200 F treatment for a couple of hours.
 
Also 1095 isn't one of the best choices for a beginner home brew heat treat. 1084 would have been a wise choice

But since you have the steel already, shape them to just about finished, leave the "edge" just thicker than a dime and send them out for a professional HT.
-Make sure you tell them what steel each knife is by marking it on the handle where the slabs will cover it when completed (scribe it in, not marker).
-Tell them where you bought the steel from. NJ Steel Baron 1084 is a bit different than others 1084.
 
Annealing is a type of heat-treatment. Steel for sale will not be hardened unless advertised as such.
 
theres so much to learn... i get the concept, ive been doing some reading off and on (about ht) for some weeks now and im still overwhelmed. especially with all the terminology and abbreviations ive seen here. anyone have a good recommended reading on heat treating?
 
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