Shop Error - accidently HT 52100 with simple 1084 methods........Advice Needed

[Steelhog]

Wow - thanks all for the advice and suggestions! You are a wealth of knowledge and wisdom. I am still very early in my knife making journey and slowly buying better equipment as I go and improve in the craft. I have no illusions that the forge and canola oil is the best way to do something, but it is giving me an avenue to learn and improve in grinding, designing and crafting a blade (and eventually optimize the HT). It will be a long time before I sell anything so I get to enjoy all my errors first . Thanks all for the help and advice!

 

[Storm W]

Wow - thanks all for the advice and suggestions! You are a wealth of knowledge and wisdom. I am still very early in my knife making journey and slowly buying better equipment as I go and improve in the craft. I have no illusions that the forge and canola oil is the best way to do something, but it is giving me an avenue to learn and improve in grinding, designing and crafting a blade (and eventually optimize the HT). It will be a long time before I sell anything so I get to enjoy all my errors first . Thanks all for the help and advice!

I always did best with 15n20 in my little forge. Atlas Knife Company it's a nice little Atlas and if you don't have a forge they are awesome to learn on. They get to welding heat and they sip fuel. 1084 and (80CrV2 only from AKS. Other stuff may not harden without extra steps.) are usually recommended as they don't need to be held for a soak. They say that a trained human eye can only see about 200 degrees so the rest of us are going to be less successful. They knives I made still work good but I have tried the same steel done in a oven by someone who knows what they are doing and it's like a different steel. So long as you are having fun and are honest then you are doing it the right way. Don't b disappointed if you don't get so much fireworks next time but do let us know if we can help.

 

[Ken H>]

Real experts- Devin Thomas is one of those. There are others, and if you read enough threads, the cream rises.

Very knowledgeable people- These folks don't know everything, and they know they don't. Even though they are strong knifemakers, they're always seeking knowledge.

Newer makers with limited experience- Mostly a respectful and respectable group, looking for solutions to problems from folks who have a bit more experience

I pulled those three items out because they are such good statements. The first I'll NEVER come close to being in the same league as DevinT or his son Larrin, Stacy, and others. I would LOVE to fit into the 2nd statement, but try to make sure I fit into the 3rd statement by being respectful to all.

 

[daizee]

No big claims here, just personal experience:
I've done a simple 1084-style heat-treat on forged reclaimed bearing steel quite a few times and it tests out harder than my 64Rc testing chisel. It makes a wicked blade. However, if you've forged it (and thermocycled it) vs. simply stock-removed from bar stock, you might see a difference.

My recommendation: If it skates a file, finish it out and enjoy it. Work on the next one and compare.
If you were selling it and making performance and steel type claims, then my advice would be different.

Now that I have a kiln in the shop, I may try a soak for this stuff as I move toward 'production' with these steels, but I suspect it will be very challenging to detect a performance difference in practice.

(ETA: minor edits for context)