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Soak time question
- Thread starter L6steel
- Start date
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2001
- Messages
- 852
Hey L6, The more time you have a knife at or above critical temp, the more grain growth you will have. Certain steels like 440C and others have soak times to get the whole blade up to critical temp. But for me with steels like 1095 and 5160 I just let it get to critical and then keep it there for a few more seconds to make sure, then quench or anneal. Just my way. I am sure there are other opinions.
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2002
- Messages
- 430
L6,
Soaking too long or too short and its effects will depend on the steel. Many martensitic stainless and higher carbon tools steels usually require a longer soak than carbon steels to put x-amount of carbide into solution. Some steels need soaks at incremental preheats to avoid thermal shock as well. Its just the mechanics of the individual steel. Saying that, soaking longer than recommended time will result in grain growth primarily. This is not an irreversible process though, just don't quench after grain growth and use the knife in such a condition.
You also bump up the rate and effect of oxidation and the annoyance of decarburization if blades are exposed to oxygen. If you soak too short, results are typically and commonly opposite... in a way. You may not get all or enough of the carbide into solution. Scale and decarb are less pronounced as well. There are some other interesting effects depending on the steel and method, but those are the main highlights.
-Jason
Soaking too long or too short and its effects will depend on the steel. Many martensitic stainless and higher carbon tools steels usually require a longer soak than carbon steels to put x-amount of carbide into solution. Some steels need soaks at incremental preheats to avoid thermal shock as well. Its just the mechanics of the individual steel. Saying that, soaking longer than recommended time will result in grain growth primarily. This is not an irreversible process though, just don't quench after grain growth and use the knife in such a condition.
You also bump up the rate and effect of oxidation and the annoyance of decarburization if blades are exposed to oxygen. If you soak too short, results are typically and commonly opposite... in a way. You may not get all or enough of the carbide into solution. Scale and decarb are less pronounced as well. There are some other interesting effects depending on the steel and method, but those are the main highlights.
-Jason