Thermal Cycling W2

[Greenberg Woods]

Hello again. I going to be quenching some W2, and i was wondering if I could clear some stuff up. JMD told me that if im using Aldo's W2 I should thermally cycle it two 1600 +, 1500, 1450 then soak and quench. Some other people have said that I shouldnt bother with the cycling and when i talked to Don he told me if im quenching for a hamon to shorten the soak Time. Im just wondering what general advice you guys could give as im trying to sort all this out.

 

[jdm61]

The reason that I mentioned the 1650F cycle is that, according to his website, Aldo's stuff is delivered to you in a 98% spheroidized condition and the hot cycle is to dissolve those carbides. With Don's stuff, it doesn't matter what its original state is because you have to screw it up by forging and then fix it with thermal cycles anyway.

 

[Fred.Rowe]

If your forging I run as stress relief cycle at 1200 for an hour, then follow up with grain refinement as you state. Keep the heat on the low end with as short a soak as practical for the best hamon, if thats your goal. Great steel takes a fine edge when thin.


Fred

 

[jdm61]

Two guys that got killer hamons from W2 are out friend DH III and the late John White. I have never seen Son so his voodoo, but I saw John HT a big bowle at a little local hammer in up in Tallahassee a few years back. He used a small version of a Fogg forge and really kept the temp pretty low. He would weld a strip of mild steel to the tang so that he could "suspend" the blade in the air in the very middle of the forge. He would put it in, wait for the forge to come back up to temp and stabilize and then let it soak for like 10 minutes.