Question for all you A2 tool steel gurus

J

jack76

Joined
Nov 12, 2005
Messages
41
I am wondering why occassionally when I heat treat A2 (in a kiln) when it comes out some pieces/blades come out with a nice rainbow color and greyish color that is very uniform throughout the blade and others sometimes (very rarely) will come out with the same pattern of colors of the rainbow, but will have bare spots that look exactly like the color of the metal before I put it in for heat treat? It almost looks like a weird camoflauge pattern with bare spots of steel color.

Did those blades not get degreased enough before putting into the stainless steel envelope and there was oil left over from my hand or buffing compound somehow left on the blade prior to heat treatment?

Has this ever happened to anyone of you and how did you go about correcting it?

Thanks!
 
That's caused from air/oxygen getting in the foil. It's easily cleaned off and causes no ill effect. It can happen with any air hardening steel. Try wrapping the foil tighter.
Scott
 
Just study these forums, you'll learn all there is to know from these masters! Well in theory anyway, the doing is no doubt the true learning process!
 
samhain73 said:
Just study these forums, you'll learn all there is to know from these masters! Well in theory anyway, the doing is no doubt the true learning process!
Click to expand...
Sam, it's all good. :thumbup: As long as I'm learning from my dumb-ass mistakes! :o
 
Easily comes off! if I use my buffer! Back in the days when that happened to me, and i was cleaning it off by hand with a piece of sandpaper! OMG! after sanding and sanding and sanding, it still looked like a ghosly appearance/shape of the bare spots! You are correct, it has never affected the actual cutting edge, but sometimes I have to buff so much off that it buffs out all the grain or alot of it! BOOHOO!:D
 
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