Steel to learn Evenheat oven

blgoode

blgoode

Joined
Oct 3, 2003
Messages
7,189
Okay, I am getting bit by the bug to try different steels. This means different heat treatments. Say I were to get an Even heat where can i get the correct info on different steels?
Say I get some A2, S7, D2, or SV??. Where do I read how to best heat treat and air quench these?
Air quench?? Can someone give me th erundown on this?
Thanks as always!!
 
Good question Brian. I'd like to know about A2.
Scott
 
I can still get A2 and S7 through McMaster Carr.
Is A2 stainless?
What about S7?
 
I also noticed the tempering temperatures listed in McMaster Carr's Heat Treat guidlines are way high!
 
Brian check out cruicible steel. they have tons of different steels you can get at good prices. or admiral steel. and both web sites have HT specs for all of the steels they sell. you can also ask for the orange book of Hting from crucible. its a little 3 ring binder that has all the spec sheets for their steels. same as the spec sheets that download when you click on one of the steelshttp://www.crucibleservice.com/datash/dsA2v12.pdf?CFID=14736&CFTOKEN=85245489 like this one for A2. good luck man. have fun with the oven....

p.s. is will also so you the breakdown of whats in the steel, so you can see if its stainless or not, and all the other good stuff in there.
 
I am putting the cart before the horse..no oven yet :confused:
Humm..little book sounds great!
 
yeah i've been dying to get an oven too... all the research done know just what i want/need. but i found a HT service within about 1/2 hour from me. kind of took the stress out of searching for one. though i think i might start working more with the carbon steels again. :D
 
thats the thing...I like Carbon steels but I know more options means more sales to ;)
 
yeah unfortunately a lot of people like the stainless stuff. not that there's anything wrong with that. i just miss carbon steels. thats ok i have 10 ft of 2" wide 1/8" thick 1050 and 5' of 1070/1080 to he same specs. and about a foot of stainless left. so it times to mess around with the good ol stuff
 
Brian, I do not know where you get your O1, but I get mine from Tool and Die. They also carry precision ground A2 and D2 if you wish to experiment with air hardening carbon steels. I prefer the Timken-Latrobe products.
 
Is A2 or S7 stanless? I know D2 is...stain friendly but not stainless.
I have alot to learn ;)
 
Brian-

Though S7, A2, and D2 aren't technically "stainless," they do have some chromium in them (3% in S7, 5% in A2, and 12% in D2) so they do resist rust better than plain carbon steels. The upside of chrome is that it increases wear and corrosion resistance. The downside is that it reduces impact toughness, because it's brittle.

According to Crucible, D2 and 440C are on-par for toughness and wear-resistance. A2 is twice as tough, though not as wear-resistant. I've heat treated a lot of A2 and it's more forgiving than some other air-hardening alloys.

Chris Reeve has used A2 for big beefy combat knives. It also makes a fine filet knife. I've also seen it used for chisels and other impact tools with very good effect. I'm of the opinion that it's a great knife steel and I think it would be a good practice alloy for your furnace.

-Allin
 
I'll have to look into A2. Sounds like nice stuff! Thanks for the help everyone ;)
Now I need a furnace!! Ahhh when will it end :D
 
In my experience with A2, the stuff corrodes like a mother, but I got my first Bark River, which is A2 and it patinates/staines pretty easily but it doesn't seem as prone to rust as the other knives I have in that steel. Does their cryo and HT method have anything to do with that? Anyway, I think a Heat Treating for Knifemakers Cookbook would be a great idea. It seems like the manufacturer's recommendations and what knifemakers actually DO can be quite different...
 
In the knife business D2 is often referred to as semi-stainless .It might discolor but really won't rust. Remember that the more complex the steel the more critical are the temperatures and times .
 
Anything under, I think, 13 percent chromium is not considered 'stainless', technically. I believe nickel and molybdenum also helps somewhat in that regard (corrosion resistance), i.e. AUS 4 and AUS 8.
'Stainless' is a misnomer ...it really means 'stain resistant'. Put it outside overnight for just one night in southern Florida during the summer, and you'll see just how stainless it really isn't :)
 
WHat about S30V. Whats the story on that? I have a recipe to heat treat that but it calls for a 650 degree temper which my toaster wont get to ;)
 
Wait I just read the recipe I have and S30V doesnt require snap tempering so I could wait till the evenheat is cool enough (overnight) to temper. Am I reading this right?
 
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