Soak times?

M

Martin S.

Joined
Apr 17, 2007
Messages
115
Getting a new supply of 1084 and now have some parks #50 for quenching instead of water. Is there an optimum soak time for 1084 before quench ?
 
Here is a link to an article that Kevin Cashen once posted on heat treating 1084.

Additionally, here are the pages from the Heat Treater's Guide for 1080/1084.

1084-HTG-p-78-cropped.jpg


1080-HTG-p-77-cropped.jpg


1080-HTG-p-77.jpg

​
 
1084 is a very basic steel, and is the eutectic. As a simple Fe-C mix there is no need to soak at austentitic temperature. Heat it to 1500F , hold it there only as long as necessary to assure even and complete heating, quench in fast oil. When you start adding alloy elements (including excess carbon) ,it becomes necessary to allow carbides and other compounds time to go into solution.
If you are using an oven, put the blade in at 1200F and ramp to 1500F. When it hits 1500F - quench.
Stacy
 
bladsmth said:
1084 is a very basic steel, and is the eutectic. As a simple Fe-C mix there is no need to soak at austentitic temperature. Heat it to 1500F , hold it there only as long as necessary to assure even and complete heating, quench in fast oil. When you start adding alloy elements (including excess carbon) ,it becomes necessary to allow carbides and other compounds time to go into solution.
If you are using an oven, put the blade in at 1200F and ramp to 1500F. When it hits 1500F - quench.
Stacy
Click to expand...

Stacy, I am sure with you it is a typo, but 1084 is very close to the eutectoid not the eutectic, which would require it to have around 4.3% carbon. Even if it weren't a typo, there would be no reason to sweat it as it is one of the most common mistakes I encounter and have even seen folks very involved in metallurgy make it.

Other than playing spell checker for Stacy, I have to agree with his post, 1084 kicks over very quickly at 1500 and requires little soak, this is the main reason why I think it is almost the perfect steel for beginners and bladesmiths that still heat treat with a forge or a torch.
 
If you're using the 1084 from Mace, it actually has .89 carbon. Not sure if or how that would impact soak times, but thought it worth mentioning....
 
Thanks Kevin. My spell checker must have replaced "eutectiod (msp)" with "eutectic", (Yep, it just tried to do it again).
Phillip, the addition of .05% carbon would not add enough free carbides to matter.
Stacy
 
Thanks guys. The few blades I've made so far have all been 1084 heated with an O/A torch and quenched in water or brine. No pings yet but the last two warped on me a little so the quest to do the best possible HT job started. The forge is built, the parks #50 is in hand, the pyrometer ordered so the next ones should be dead nuts on without the guess work.
 
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