There's nothing worse

Metalhead0483

Metalhead0483

Joined
Jan 17, 2008
Messages
539
Than hearing a blade go "tink" during the quench... :(

Not quite sure what I did wrong. But I guess it's back to the drawing board now.
 
Details would help.
Blade size, metal,quenchant,type of quench, how was it heated,etc.?
Stacy
 
It is indeed the most terrible sound a KM could hear .
How much effort went into this learning experience ?

I kept a cracked blade as a reminder :)

Just say no to water .
 
blade is 4 1/2" with a hidden tang
steel is 5160
heated in my propane forge (estimated temp, no thermometer)
oil quench after anneal and normalize

I suspect that I heated to too high a temp before the quench...
 
Make sure you don't have stress risers - as in anything that is not round/flowing but rather 90-degree-ish, sharp corners . Do you see where the crack started - most likely it did it at a stress riser point.

If you profile the "outline" with a 30-something-grit, the outer edge will have pretty deep scratches all around - these are also stress risers. 220 grit fixes that :)

One must agitate the part during the quench so it cools as uniformly as possible
 
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