stress relief problems

E

elvenbladesmith07

Joined
Jul 29, 2004
Messages
663
i did a stress relief temper on a knife i made from an old file, i put it in at 400 degrees, but when i came out it had blue oxidization? shouldnt it have been straw collored if anything? the last knife i did came out like this and im wondering why. im really pissed to cause i got a got even heat on this lil bowie and i think i screwed up the temper :mad: . im so dumb sometimes, i should have looked in my book for the right temp. but i just had to do it from memory! any help would be great
 
You cant trust colors. I can put an annealed blade in the oven and make it turn straw colored.
 
400F is no considered a stress relief temper, that's usually a temper of 700-1100F. Are you sure your oven is accurate ? Check it occasionally. Color is dependant on temperature ,surface condition [ how clean ] and which alloy.........Mark where did you get the little figure [or is that really you ?]
 
First,The color could be from oil on the blade from quenching,or just a blue temper.Second,have you checked your oven against a good thermometer?I have seen ovens be off as much as 75 degrees.Also ,some have hot spots near the elements.Third,colors can mean nothing unless you watch them grow.Finally,Did you test the edge to see how hard it still is?
Personally,for a blade made from a file,I would want a spring temper (blue).
SA
 
Use a thermometer...Dont let the oil residue fool you. This has gotten the best of me before. I always grind a nice clean area for the color to oxidize in.
 
well i quench in oil so it couldnt have been that, and 475 still wouldnt produce a blue color as far as i know. eyballing your hardening and tempering is how it has always been done in the past and the ancient smiths didnt know exactly what steel they had made their blades from so why shouldnt it work now?
also i was wondering why some smiths cut the round end off their ball peen hammers? ive seen the japanese smithing hammers and they are the same way. does this help somehow in forgeing? maybe it shifts the weight forward more? i dont know and i was wondering if u guys could help with that. thanks
 
Sharpen it and test it on a 1/4" brass rod, if it chips it's too hard, if the edge rolls and stays bent, it's too soft, if the edge flexes and comes back true your about rite.

The only way to judge by temp is to have clean steel in the oven, no oil or residue of any kind, and even that's subjective. Get a good thermomiter from the grociery store. Depending on what kind of oven was used, a home or toaster oven for example, if you put in cold and then turned the heat on it can spike on the first heat a lot hotter than once it's up to temp. Leave the blade out till the oven's cycled a couple of times and the thermomiter leavals out.

The smiths of old tended to do one part rite, two parts wrong, and the realy good ones tested there blades and didn't let bad ones leave with there mark on it. They also did something that is hard for a part time smith to do, they worked all day every day and just by hand and eye had a lot more experiance than most of use have time to aquire. That's where a little tecnoligy comes to our aid.

Good luck and let use see a pic of the finished knife.
 
thanks for the help i would send a pic if i could get this damn digi cam to work! i hate the thing. :) ill get my freind to do it 4 me hes a techy guy.
 
mete said:
a .........Mark where did you get the little figure [or is that really you ?]
Click to expand...


Robert , I have my own line of action figures :)

Just kidding. Don (peter nap) made a modified avatar for me after the one I had used was to scarey.

You really should reply to the "What's your favorite knife style" thread ;)
 
Mark Williams said:
You really should reply to the "What's your favorite knife style" thread ;)
Click to expand...
Ahh..... the plot thickens ;)
 
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