Quick question. Will 500°f...

[Omega Leather Works]

Probably a stupid question, but here goes.

Following the directions on the furnace cement, I have it curing at 500°f in the toaster oven.

That won't do anything weird to the annealed 1084 right?

I'd prefer not to do any thermal cycling that isn't necessary unless it's for the steel itself, but the clay needs cured. I'm sure it'll be fine...?

 

[Rick Marchand]

It won't do anything to the steel. i don't think you need to go as far as "curing" the coating. I probably won't hurt but I think it's unnecessary. Some folks put it in, wet. I just let it dry and give it a few passes through the forge prior to bringing the temp up

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Eh, nevermind. It's been in there a while so if there's a problem maybe I'll find out.

I'm letting it cool slowly in the oven. I'd be really surprised if it had any impact on anything.

 

[quint]

What kind of cement is it? Using stuff like rutlands I just throw it in the forge wet, after your thermal cycles if you can. It will stay on till the quench.

If using satonite I would let it dry usually or just hit it with the hand torch just enough to dry it out some.

 

[i4Marc]

I use high temp furnace cement. I either let it dry in open air overnight or let it dry to the touch then warm it in the oven @ ~ 200˚ or so for 30 min or so. I prefer air drying overnight because it is easier to remove after the quench. If you cook it you will have a tougher time removing the remnants after the quench, IME.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

I have 2000° and 2600° Rutland cement. I've used the 2k once before and got a hamon so that's what I'm using this time.

Wet huh? Actually, that sounds like a good idea, after all, repairing fire bricks and mortar has different requirements than insulating a blade from heat.

I'll give that a go next time. I bet it's easier to get off that way too!

 

[quint]

So I really dont like the rutlands all that much. I prefer the satanite but I dont have any and well got a bunch of stuff similar to rutlands. Think its imperial or something. Same stuff. I have used both the 2000 and 2600.

My issue is with satanite once its dry and fired the first time it stays on, you can do thermal cycling and what not and no worries about it coming off as long as the blade was clean when you put it on and ya let it dry (or baked it dry).

With the rutland stuff if I thermal cycle the blade while its on then it balloons up and falls off pretty easy. If I am just doing the one heat cycle and I put it in wet it kind of just hardens and only puffs up a little bit and stays on good enough for the one cycle into the quench where it usually blows off but stays on long enough to cause the hamon. This is just my experience. Ive tried baking it on and drying it over night and all kinds of things.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Good stuff. I'll definitely keep an eye on how it performs in relation to your experience and post up.

About how thick do you apply the clay to eutectoid steel? I read somewhere that 1084 needs a thicker coat than 1095. Mine are pretty thick at around 1/8" I seem to have some very thin clay kinda smeared lower than the intended quench line but I'm not really worried about that.

Any chance you (or anyone else) has any pics of their pre-ht coated blade?

Edit- btw the clay is set-up and cured pretty well now. I really hope some of it breaks off in the quench since it's rock hard.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Probably a stupid question, but here goes.

Following the directions on the furnace cement, I have it curing at 500°f in the toaster oven. That won't do anything weird to the annealed 1084 right?

I'd prefer not to do any thermal cycling that isn't necessary unless it's for the steel itself, but the clay needs cured. I'm sure it'll be fine...?

Now, lets think about this....You have it at 500° and are worried that this will do something to the steel....which you are preparing to heat to 1500°.....

 

[Rick Marchand]

Now, lets think about this....You have it at 500° and are worried that this will do something to the steel....which you are preparing to heat to 1500°.....

It's like worrying about sneezing on your car, prior to driving through a hurricane..... lol.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Now, lets think about this....You have it at 500° and are worried that this will do something to the steel....which you are preparing to heat to 1500°.....

True, but I wouldn't want my (annealed) steel to get soft!

Just playin. Seriously though, I just wanted to know if it would change anything about the annealed state that it's already in. I may still drill some bolster pin holes or maybe a lanyard hole. Seems I've found the limits of my drill press (or maybe the belt is slipping), but it doesn't like drilling more than 1/4" holes let alone a larger one for the lanyard.

Yes, I see a couple of things wrong with that. I should have made up my mind about the holes before applying the clay, and I didn't think that the low temp at 2 hours would have much of an effect on the steel, but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask in case there was something that I didn't consider. The thread also gives me an opportunity to ask other questions as I go without starting another thread.