"Shocking" the steel?

K

krept

Joined
Jan 14, 2002
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Ok, this has been bugging me for probably over a year now and I have to ask...

A while back, someone posted a link to a video online that showed a European maker forging damascus blades. I think he was scandanavian and I believe that the video was in another language, but it was translated.

The guy made really awesome blades.

At one point during the video, he had a blade in the forge and then pulled it out and dunked it in a quenchant, probably oil. He said that the reason he was doing this was to "shock" the steel.

The only reason I can think of to quench a blade would be to harden it and doesn't this cause more stress on the steel? Obviously he wasn't doing this to normalize or anneal the blade and he clearly knew what he was doing, so...

What did he mean when he was "shocking" the steel and what purpose does it serve? Might it have something to do with the welds in the damascus billet?

Thanks in advance!

Erik
 
I think I saw that video though I don't remember 'shocking' the steel. It can be part of the grain refining process. The quench creates martensite which then on reheating creates finer austenite grains.
 
i think i have seen it too. the maker is andrew jordan (http://www.jordanknives.com/)

each time you heat steel its grain starts growing. if you harden the steel a few times the grain becomes a lot smaller.
i think i read something on 52100 and grain-refinement a few weeks ago (1600=>air, 1550=>oil, 3 times 1500=>oil)
 
I haven't seen it, but like has been mentioned, it's a quick and brutal way to refine the grain in the steel.

I prefer "thermal cycles" myself, but quenching it like that will reduce grain size.

-Nick-
 
Quenching toward the end of the forging process is an excellent experience for the steel, providing you do everything else right. This is an important step in developing strong, tough blades that will be easy to sharpen. 35 seconds in room temperature quenching oil will do wonders for a blade that is above critical temp, we use this event on the front 1/3 of the blade where most of the use will occur. Try it on one blade and compare it to another from the same bar and you will know how it works for your steel of choice.
 
I try my damndest to; not shock the steel. Shocked steel can result in all kinds of "scary" things happening. Shocked steel is stressed steel. The only reason I would want to quench during forging would be to even the heat out. The end of the blade getting a little to hot, I want to even the heat out a little. I'll quench the tip and cool it down a little then reheat and continue the forge. Fred Just how I do it. :cool:
 
Very interesting! Thanks for the responses, the answer was not what I was expecting and I'm glad I asked.

cheers
 
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