Telling Temper/ Rockwell by Sunlight

P

pogo

Joined
Jun 8, 2005
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I just took a few knives out in the sunlight to see what temper they had. Most were a very light blue & some were a very light purple. A couple were a darker blue. Has anyone tried this? For those that dont know you have to turn the blades just right until the sunlight reflects off the blade just right & presumably you can tell the temper by the color of the blade. Dark blue is aound 54 rockwell, light blue around 56-58 Rockwell & light purple around 58-60 Rockwell. :)
 
Wouldnt this only work for a specific type of steel which a specific heat treatment method?
 
Mine turned chartreuse and then puce, then I saw Richard Simmons' reflection. What does that mean?
 
TorzJohnson said:
Mine turned chartreuse and then puce, then I saw Richard Simmons' reflection. What does that mean?
Click to expand...
Holy crud... I saw Richard Simmons' reflection too!!! What could this mean? TEOTWAWKI perhaps?
 
The knifemakers will get a kick out of this thread.... :cool:

One way of tempering carbon steel is to clean it up all shiny after hardening, then warm it up and watch the oxidation colors to see when it reaches the temperature you want. When you're done you (usually) clean it up all shiny again. But, as time passes, a blade will oxidize again....

If you could tell the hardness of a blade by looking at it that would save a lot of money on Rockwell testing.
 
Different steels have inherant colors. 1084 has a yellow color. 5160 blue.

Where did you get this information?
 
It was passed on to me by a guy at work. Looks like you guys are right about being able to tell the temper. Might even be an urban ledgend like was said. :(
Mark Williams said:
Different steels have inherant colors. 1084 has a yellow color. 5160 blue.

Where did you get this information?
Click to expand...
 
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