Strange heat treat on 1095?

R

RF52

Joined
Jan 4, 2022
Messages
2
Hi!
I'm recently started forging a knifeblade for the first time and was recommended a heat treat which I Found a little strange.
The smith I was talking to recommended heating the blade to non magnetic before pulling it out of the force and waiting for it to become magnetic again before quenching it.
Does this make sense to any of you experienced makers here?

Thanks in advance.
 
No.
That doesn't make much sense...

Since your doing it primitive and you forged the blade, i'd heat it well past non-magnetic into the "bright orange" colors, then let it air cool.

Then heat it to non-magnetic and air cool maybe 2 times. Then heat it to non-magnetic, and just a hair brighter, then quench in at least a gallon parks 50 oil (at room temp). If you don't have a good, fast quench oil, you can use canola, but you still need at least a gallon, and you need to hear it to 120 or so degrees f.

This should give you ok results after you grind through the decarborization that will probably happen on the surface.
 
RF52 said:
Hi!
I'm recently started forging a knifeblade for the first time and was recommended a heat treat which I Found a little strange.
The smith I was talking to recommended heating the blade to non magnetic before pulling it out of the force and waiting for it to become magnetic again before quenching it.
Does this make sense to any of you experienced makers here?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
RUN AWAY!
 
Heated canola oil might be too slow for 1095. Before I got Parks 50 I tried heated canola oil and never could get full hardness. I wound up using water quench - with no cracks. If you can't get Parks 50, you might try brine water, but you do take a chance on cracks (I got a nice blade with cracks now:( - but it's hard :). )

Sometimes Canola works and other times it's a tad slow. Seems like heated canola oil is rated about like AAA which is slower than Parks 50.
 
RF52 said:
Hi!
I'm recently started forging a knifeblade for the first time and was recommended a heat treat which I Found a little strange.
The smith I was talking to recommended heating the blade to non magnetic before pulling it out of the force and waiting for it to become magnetic again before quenching it.
Does this make sense to any of you experienced makers here?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
It makes sense if your end goal is soft steel that doesn't work well as a knife.
 
Thanks for the replies all 😁 Good to get some input from experienced and knowledgeable people 🙌
 
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