I have a question about hardening stainless. I haven't been smithing for long and I don't know to many things about metal (kind of been going by trial and error). I've got some cheap stainless knives around the house and was wondering if there's any special way to edge harden them. Just about the only thing I know about stainless is that it's air hardened. Now, would I just heat the edge put and let it air cool? Is it the same process as hardening high carbon steel but without the oil or can you even shrink the grain at all?
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stainless
- Thread starter twynn5586
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RHINOKNIVES
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if it is cheap stainless, ie low carbon. you won't get very good results. i have diff, HT 440c by bringing it up to non magnadic and quinching in hot tranny fliud. then the file test and then heat till the spine is light blue. i know this works and others have refind their process to a higher level.
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twynn5586,
I agree with L6. You can do it essentially, but not at optimum levels I feel.
This will only work if the steel is annealed though. If you edge harden those knives you already have, you're gonna have to anneal first. For they already contain tempered martensite. You'd get martensite next to martensite. Thus, no noticeable diff hard.
Hope that helps some.
-Jason
I agree with L6. You can do it essentially, but not at optimum levels I feel.
I have seen an actual hamon on a stainless blade. So, to answer your question, yes, you can edge harden. Visible hamon or not is can be done on pretty much any steel generally speaking. Diff hard that is.
Often yes, but there are occasional exceptions. Like with extra thick blades. Oil will work a little better when air quenches fall short.
Its not the same mechanics involved with HC steel, but here are some things to get you going... You can try heating the edge up alone. Avoid color or much color (black/red) on the body of the blade. (do this at night or in the dark) You can quench in oil at that point. The whole blade. You can quench just the edge if you have problems with full hardening still. Using a refractory clay would help to prevent the spread of heat to the body. Your object is to avoid creating austenite in the body. Hence, the reason for avoiding color. Some color won't be too bad (may even do nothing), but just keep it in mind as a rule of thumb in your scenario.
This will only work if the steel is annealed though. If you edge harden those knives you already have, you're gonna have to anneal first. For they already contain tempered martensite. You'd get martensite next to martensite. Thus, no noticeable diff hard.
Hope that helps some.
-Jason