Summary of heat treat formula for Also's W-2

Mike, your 'normalizing' is a bit different than mine. After forging I'll heat to not magnetic in the forge and let air cool three times, lowering the heat a little each time.

Ya might want to try 61-62 Rc on a blade and test it hard. I think you might like it.

But hell, I have one of your W2 knives and it is FINE!!!
 
Don Hanson III said:
Mike, your 'normalizing' is a bit different than mine. After forging I'll heat to not magnetic in the forge and let air cool three times, lowering the heat a little each time.

Ya might want to try 61-62 Rc on a blade and test it hard. I think you might like it.

But hell, I have one of your W2 knives and it is FINE!!!
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I will be doing a few tomorrow. I'll give that a try for sure. Thanks Don!
 
On Mr Hanson's advice, I have never let a W2 knife leave my shop heat treated for anything "softer" than 60-61, even big choppers. I have never had a complaint. I can tell you that a through hardened large kitchen knife blade of Don's W2 tempered at 375 is harder than woodpecker lips and will scoff at anything you throw at it.
 
jdm61 said:
On Mr Hanson's advice, I have never let a W2 knife leave my shop heat treated for anything "softer" than 60-61, even big choppers. I have never had a complaint. I can tell you that a through hardened large kitchen knife blade of Don's W2 tempered at 375 is harder than woodpecker lips and will scoff at anything you throw at it.
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375 will put it in the 65 Rc range. I run em at around 425 for a 62-63-ish Rc. Never had a W2 blade edge chip in hard use.
 
Also want to add that achieving the highest Rc hardness possible at quench will give best performance after temper.

That's why I like to see 68 to 68.5 Rc with W2 right out of the quench.
 
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Don, thanks for the information. Have you used any of Aldo's W-2 steel? If so, does it heat treat the same as the W-2 steel you have.
 
Don, I sold two kitchen knives to the same experienced kitchen knife buyer using 375 and 400, the 400 blade with clay for a hamon so I probably got some initial "auto tempering" and /or slowdown in the cooling and he said he could notice the difference and actually preferred the one that had been done at 375. he also said it was the second best sujihiki/slicer he had ever owned and he had a number of very high end Japanese blades. The funny part is that the suji was the first kitchen knife that I had ever sold. Not too shabby. ;)
Don Hanson III said:
375 will put it in the 65 Rc range. I run em at around 425 for a 62-63-ish Rc. Never had a W2 blade edge chip in hard use.
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Tom Lewis said:
Don, thanks for the information. Have you used any of Aldo's W-2 steel? If so, does it heat treat the same as the W-2 steel you have.
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Tom, I've tested a few pieces guys have sent. They were 1/8" and had no scale, got 67 Rc with a torch heat-n-quench. But that's as far as I went with it. Have a 1/4" piece that I haven't tested yet.
 
jdm61 said:
Don, I sold two kitchen knives to the same experienced kitchen knife buyer using 375 and 400, the 400 blade with clay for a hamon so I probably got some initial "auto tempering" and /or slowdown in the cooling and he said he could notice the difference and actually preferred the one that had been done at 375. he also said it was the second best sujihiki/slicer he had ever owned and he had a number of very high end Japanese blades. The funny part is that the suji was the first kitchen knife that I had ever sold. Not too shabby. ;)
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Impressive Joe! I might just have to try one at a lower temper / higher hardness.
 
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Don, this is the 375F blade in question. it was a time and effort no object showpiece, but my recollection is that while it was not easy to finish, it was not really more ridiculously difficult than you would expect with a large W2 blade and you can see the results. That is a hand rubbed finish gong up pretty high.
 
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