Technidal Aspects of Multiple Quench at ABANA

Ed Fowler

Ed Fowler

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Jul 21, 2001
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This week at the ABANA conference at Rapid City South Dakota a metallurgical Engineer, Kevin Gray and I will be presenting the recent history of our studies and Kevin will be presenting the metallurgical aspects of Multiple Quench, Kevin Gray was a student at one of our seminars and has undertaken to study the technical aspects of our forging and heat treat methods. My presentation will be Thursday, then Friday and Saturday. We will have a test blade anyone can work with and will test it to destruction on Saturday.

Many have wanted a technical explanation of what happens with our methods, now is your chance to ask any questions you want answered and Kevin can get as technical as you wish. He has photomicrographs of each step along with technical explanations.

Check the ABANA schedule if you are interested.
 
Good stuff Ed, I hope it answers some of the questions folks have. Are they going to shoot any video? Any future plans for a publication?
 
Thanks Rick:
I don't know about video stuff, that will be up to ABANA. Publication will be up to Kevin. He has been working on it for over a year and I have not got a chance to discuss his future plans.
 
Will all of this be posted on this thread that would be awesome! Pics and all!
 
YES! Pics (micrographs) would help to clarify things. Thanks for the post, Ed.
 
Just a thought. Could you do three or four blades? Single, double, triple and quadruple quenched to show the difference?
 
Rex and I have contrasted blades from 1 to 3 quenches one time I went all the way up to 7 quenches and compared the results based upon performance, I have written it up in Blade Magazine in the 1980's

Kevin has done the same thing, 3 quenches with 52100 and will have photomicrographs as well as technical descriptions of the results of each quench. I believe they will be available for inspection and discussion at the conference.

The results of Kevin's work belongs to him and his sponsors, what they intend to do with them will be their decision. Kevin has not finished his study, has only been working on it for a year and a half.

To say the least I am very excited to see it all come together.
 
Sounds great Ed,

Maybe people who can not attend could post questions here for him that he could address in a Q&A session?

Then he could pick questions before hand and have time to give a thought out response instead of people just asking him on the fly.
 
That sounds like a good idea: Go ahead and post them up and I will give him the list of questions.
 
Ed, we have to see the results of his work before we can post up questions.
 
I look forward to the smiths here asking questions. I know many would love to have some questions answered as they have called for answers in the past.

This is a great opportunity for them and us all.
 
If any one has a question or two, and wants them to get to the metallurgist you will have to get them to me before tomorrow at noon for that is when we are leaving for Rapid City.
 
Troop said:
YES! Pics (micrographs) would help to clarify things. Thanks for the post, Ed.
Click to expand...

The methods Ed uses always brings up questions. They even spill over to other forums and magazines. Now is the time to actually get some answers from a metallurgist. Several have even called into question the metallurgist he works with. Well now they can get those answers.
 
Ed... hope I am not too late!(1230 here, 1030 in Wyoming)
I am intersted in the findings regarding the "composite bow limb" effect you refer to. I seem to recall you mentioning a pyramid of "layered" structures achieved through multiple thermal cycles and quenches. Unless I am off... It has been a while since I've looked at your posts and website. Will he be discussing how it relates to your own work, making knives? The effect of multiple quenching is not in question, as far as I'm concerned. That has been utilized in many industrial settings and addressed in Verhoeven's book.

I guess what I'm asking is... will this presentation will be on Multiple Quenching itself, or the Effects of Multiple Quenching as Applied and Discussed in Ed Fowler's Blades?

Again, if this does not apply to Kevin's presentation, my mistake.
 
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Kevin presented is work on multiple quench, it was well received by his peers. It will be published in the future in one of the industrial journals.

For those of you who have never attended an ABANA conference I encourage you to do so if the opportunity presents itself. Well worth the time and financial investment.

I consider this experience to be the highlight of my knife making career.
 
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