Steel baron question

Chris Leahy

Chris Leahy

Joined
Jul 9, 2019
Messages
55
hiya,

I’ve seen a couple different threads on here that indicate that the steel from Aldo needs some special tweaking to undo the spheroidizing Including a sticky thread quoted below that says “the below threads are on that topic” but then there aren’t any threads below :-)

So, a couple different sources say the spheroidizing has to be reversed, but then don’t talk about how to do that.

How is it done? :-)



“Aldo's Steel HT and Spheroidized Steel threads ( New Jersey Steel baron)

The steel from Aldo Bruno ( New Jersey Steel baron) and some other suppliers comes fully spheroidized. This means the carbon is balled up in balls and rods of carbides. This makes it easier to cut, drill, and file ... but has to be reversed in HT to get the steel fully hard. The below threads are on that topic.”
Click to expand...
 
From what I understand it’s only certain grades, like 1084.
And if I recall correctly, for 1084 you have to heat it up to 1600 and hold for a little while (5 min?).
I’m certainly not an expert on the topic, I’m sure one of the guys like @Larrin will come by and correct me.
 
A.McPherson said:
From what I understand it’s only certain grades, like 1084
Click to expand...

How about 1095?

All my steel right now is 1084 and 1095 from Aldo

I gotta think it gets hotter than 1600 for more than 5 min when I’m forging it.

Does this special Aldo steel protocol only apply to stock removal knives that only get hot during HT?
 
That is what I have gathered... if you are forging you’re gonna be at high enough temp to break up the spheroids anyway.

Just thermal cycle as usual afterwards and you should be good.
 
The 1084 that I bought was fine but that was from a couple of years ago. The 15n20 has been great although this is a new batch. The 80crv2 required a lot of work to get it to harden.
 
The 15n20 is ready to harden as is. The other carbon or tool steels carried by batch. Peter said they are changing the annealing process going forward, but that will affect steel ordered now, and won’t be delivered until 2020/2021. I have just gotten into the routine of normalizing and cycling all of NJSB carbon and tool steel excepting the 15n20. Some have hardened without issue, others haven’t.
 
If you're buying carbon steel from Aldo and NOT forging it, you would be doing yourself a big favor by normalizing them. If you ARE forging, your forging heats will take care of the spheroidizing issues. This means 1075, 1084, 80CrV2, 1095, W2, 52100. I don't know about his O1. I normalize and cycle the 15n20 as well, even tho some of that stock has already been hardened and tempered for band saw production.
 
samuraistuart said:
If you're buying carbon steel from Aldo and NOT forging it, you would be doing yourself a big favor by normalizing them. If you ARE forging, your forging heats will take care of the spheroidizing issues. This means 1075, 1084, 80CrV2, 1095, W2, 52100. I don't know about his O1. I normalize and cycle the 15n20 as well, even tho some of that stock has already been hardened and tempered for band saw production.
Click to expand...

I’ll report back on the 1/4” 15n20. All others i’ve tried have hardened without cycling, and have had very fine grain.
 
I have got to get some of that 1/4". The 0.130 stock is fantastic. It's the only simple carbon steel that I will still buy. If money wasn't a bit tight right now I would but a hundred pounds of each thickness.
 
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