Something to pass along: White #2 san mai heat treat....

Kentucky

Kentucky

Joined
Dec 13, 2008
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No pics right now but some info I thought Id pass along. I decided to make a personal knife from some White #2 san mai..I like the steel a lot in kitchen knives. I need to replace my small fixed blade that I normally carry hunting/fishing so I thought Id give this a try..
First off the knife was profiled, drilled and only a small portion of the bevel set..The cores steel was still covered..Im fairly exp'd with water quench so that's what I decided to go with..I made sure there were no scratches on the blade before hand by hand sanding it to 400 grit and rounding off the edge. This lessens the chance of cracking Ive found..
This steel comes in good shape to heat treat so I went straight to it..I used 1460° as my aust' temp. Put the knife in after kiln had come to temp and let it equalize. After blade was up to temp it was soaked for 5-6 minutes..Then with a prayer and no whammy dance straight into a bucket of warm water.Spine to edge agitation..I believe what they say about thiss teel and water now. It reacted better to a water quench than Id say anything Ive tried. Very minimal warping,Easily fixed though I did not have the testicular fortitude to hammer it cold:D to straighten it..The hardness tester I have access to is at my friends house but everything in me says it easily hit 65rc-66rc out of the quench..Looking forward to finishing it but Lisa is grinding out her orders right now so Ill have to wait..Oh and Ive tempered it back to what Im guessing is about 61rc-62rc. Im looking forward to seeing how that steel holds up to field use(not abuse) at that hardness..
 
Where are you finding your #2.
I have been on the hunt for some #1 and i feel I'm getting closer. I have a good friend that lives in Japan and he has done some local research and when he has time is going to make a trip to a suplyer. But says it looks promising in getting what I want. But as we all say "pictures or it did not happen"
 
JTknives said:
Where are you finding your #2.
I have been on the hunt for some #1 and i feel I'm getting closer. I have a good friend that lives in Japan and he has done some local research and when he has time is going to make a trip to a suplyer. But says it looks promising in getting what I want. But as we all say "pictures or it did not happen"
Click to expand...

you can get some from workshop heaven or Dictum
 
Kentucky said:
No pics right now but some info I thought Id pass along. I decided to make a personal knife from some White #2 san mai..I like the steel a lot in kitchen knives. I need to replace my small fixed blade that I normally carry hunting/fishing so I thought Id give this a try..
First off the knife was profiled, drilled and only a small portion of the bevel set..The cores steel was still covered..Im fairly exp'd with water quench so that's what I decided to go with..I made sure there were no scratches on the blade before hand by hand sanding it to 400 grit and rounding off the edge. This lessens the chance of cracking Ive found..
This steel comes in good shape to heat treat so I went straight to it..I used 1460° as my aust' temp. Put the knife in after kiln had come to temp and let it equalize. After blade was up to temp it was soaked for 5-6 minutes..Then with a prayer and no whammy dance straight into a bucket of warm water.Spine to edge agitation..I believe what they say about thiss teel and water now. It reacted better to a water quench than Id say anything Ive tried. Very minimal warping,Easily fixed though I did not have the testicular fortitude to hammer it cold:D to straighten it..The hardness tester I have access to is at my friends house but everything in me says it easily hit 65rc-66rc out of the quench..Looking forward to finishing it but Lisa is grinding out her orders right now so Ill have to wait..Oh and Ive tempered it back to what Im guessing is about 61rc-62rc. Im looking forward to seeing how that steel holds up to field use(not abuse) at that hardness..
Click to expand...

did you forge it at all or just straight to profile/grind?
here's a little video of my water quench, I don't really agitate. But I'm new to this and still learning
I forge to final thickness and grind all after the quench and temper

[video]http://vid1273.photobucket.com/albums/y402/hsc3_90293/CEA2B992-38AD-4731-92D2-E2BE8AAFE9C7_zpsvsd9opjh.mp4[/video]
 
Dictum is probably the best source as they are cheaper than Work Shop Heaven due to the tanked Euro and they back out the VAT on non-EU purchases. The bad news is that neither source have the stainless clad white or blue on their websites. The good news is that Bill Burke now has some of the Takefu stainless clad stuff that appears to be similar to Blue #2.
 
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Well, I bragged too soon and the tink fairy came back and put a boot in my arse..Not a complete failure but there was a delam near the tip..I was able to grind I away no problem but it irritated the crap out of me..Now the "excuse",LOL..Im sure it was probably my fault but that delam looked weird and it was NOT on the edge..It was a good 1/4" back on the blade..I only found it because I changed the profile on the blade a bit. Had I not done it I would never have known..It was more like a blister than a delam..Kind of odd huh?
 
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I saw a JS level damascus blade that was blistered, it must be heartbreaking after all that work. :)
 
I just ordered a dozen bars from Dictum today. No VAT and the high dollar made the shipping work out to about $5 a bar.
 
For a minute, I thought you were saying that the STEEL was on sale for $5 a bar. :D so did the total order end up being mourned $200?
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I just ordered a dozen bars from Dictum today. No VAT and the high dollar made the shipping work out to about $5 a bar.
Click to expand...
 
The total was about $350, with shipping being about $60 of that. It was a mixed lot, with half of it being hon-san-mai kitae (katana steel).
 
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