How To Specific Heat Treating Question regarding tempering of 1075

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YanJones89

Joined
Dec 27, 2018
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Hi guys,

New member here.

FIRST ISSUE: I am after some specific information regarding the tempering of 1075 steel for longer blades i.e for swords.

The steel I use comes with HT info and says after oil quenching, temper at 160 degrees C (320F ish) for one hour and this produces hardness of 60HRC and that can be reduced to 58HRC by doing one hour at 200C.

This has been fine for knives but I'm now making my first sword and my research suggests that 58HRC is a little high for swords and that I should be looking for around 50HRC.

Problem is, after several hours of reading I cannot find out what I need to do in order to achieve this. Clearly I either need to temper for longer or at a higher temp. I am leaning towards the latter and seem to think that around 375C would be about right but this still leaves me wondering about how long to hold it at that temp for.

Still one hour? two hours or even one hour but do it twice.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

SECOND ISSUE: Obviously for knives, my kitchen oven has been doing the job for me, however it is not big enough, nor does it go hot enough for a sword so I will need to use my DIY sword forge.

Question is, being a DIY coal forge, how to I maintain one temperature (or at least within 20C of one temperature) for an hour?

Hope to hear from you guys soon.
 
If you are getting 60Rc at 320F, then you may be doing something wrong, or you may not have 1075. Typically, the starting point for 1075, 1080 and 1084 is 1500/400 which should get you in the 60-61 range. What quenchant at are you using? 1075 is a shallow hardening steel.
 
People have the idea that since swords used to be Rc 50-52, that is what they are supposed to be. Rc 58 is fine for a sword made from the right steel and HTed properly*.


*Unless you are chopping on oak logs, steel, cow bones ... and other things swords aren't made to chop on as seen on TV.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
People have the idea that since swords used to be Rc 50-52, that is what they are supposed to be. Rc 58 is fine for a sword made from the right steel and HTed properly*.


*Unless you are chopping on oak logs, steel, cow bones ... and other things swords aren't made to chop on as seen on TV.
Click to expand...

What about chopping large steel nuts?
 
YanJones89 said:
SECOND ISSUE: Obviously for knives, my kitchen oven has been doing the job for me, however it is not big enough, nor does it go hot enough for a sword so I will need to use my DIY sword forge.

Question is, being a DIY coal forge, how to I maintain one temperature (or at least within 20C of one temperature) for an hour?

Hope to hear from you guys soon.
Click to expand...
I have never made a sword but I think have read here some temper a sword in a kitchen oven just with the door cracked ??
 
Yes, I have tempered many swords with them placed in the oven at a 45° angle with the tang sticking out the top corner. After an hour, I turn it around for a second hour. I cool it off and repeat. I have read of some guys who stick a strip of kao-wool in the crack at the top, but I find it so small that I just let it go.

You can also torch temper a sword by working the flame along the spine and watching the temper colors creep down the bevels. It takes some practice. Have a folded up wet towel sitting under it to set the edge on as the straw color gets near the edge. Sand off the temper colors with a piece of 400 grit sandpaper and repeat a couple times to assure even temper. This leaves a harder edge and softer spine … which works well in a sword.
 
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