Quick!How hot is a camp fire?

O

Omega Leather Works

Joined
Jun 13, 2007
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Im going camping for a few days and I have a small knife I need HT'd any chance I can HT this small piece of 1095 in the camp fire and then let air quench?

Thanks!
 
A good bed of coals will most likely get it to CT after a while. You can always water or oil quench it to get the full hardness. I anneal steel all the time in my wood stove just by letting the steel sit buried in the coals. Within 4-5 hours it is at CT. That is on a fully dampered stove without the air inlets open.
 
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only if you got soem wind blowing and i still would not trust that for heat treat

that said i did anneal a leaf spring like that once since i had a good way to keep the steel from cooling fast :)
 
Start a good hot hardwood fire and build up a big bed of coals, be sure to bring some way to force air into the coals, a set of tongs, a magnet on a telescoping handle, sand paper and some oil in a non-flammable container to quench in... You can get a small set of bellows at a fire place store. Attach the bellows to a piece of hose that goes into a pipe that has one end capped off and a bunch of holes drilled into the end near the cap..(the pipe should be long enough so that you can have 8-10" in the fire and the other end stays cool). Pile coals on top of the perforated end of the pipe and have someone slowly work the bellows so that you have a controlled blast of air going into the coals.. This should get plenty hot to heat treat with. Use the tongs work the blade back and forth with the spine down on top of the coals until it is a nice red orange color.. Check the blade often with the magnet, when it is no longer magnetic let it get a little hotter and plunge it tip first into your oil (which should be preheated) until it cools. Then clean the oil from the blade and sand it until the blade is shinny. Then using the tongs place the knife back over the coals (no air blast this time) and rub it back and forth until the spine turns blue and the cutting edge is a nice gold/bronze color... Do not let the edge get too hot...This should give you a serviceable HT....Good luck and have fun..
 
You'll need many drunk friends blowing on the coals. Have a camera to record all your friends without eyebrows.

OK Rocketman's answer was better - but drunk friends are easier to come by than bellows. :D

Rob!
 
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