This scared the crap out of me....

[Whit]

After quenching a damascus blade, I went to wipe some scale off before I checked the hardness. After one quick wipe, I couldn't believe what I saw. I was just about to fly into a fit of rage for having broken the blade in two, when I looked back to my right hand and saw that I was holding an entire blade. It was just the scale came off in one piece, shaped just like the blade! It was quite a relief, and the momentary rise in my blood pressure was probably good for me on a day off. If only I could get all blades to come out so clean after quenching!

 

[Matthew Gregory]

Wow, that's messed up! How'd the blade look underneath when you wiped it? Was it completely clean?

 

[J.Marsillo]

Nice!! Would that be on the same level of satisfaction as a stick weld slag "peeling" up by itself.
If so :thumbup: I would love if that happened every time.

 

[IronWolf]

That is a pretty large chunk of scale.

How thick is it (the scale)? if it is pretty thick as well, you may have excessive oxidation, which could also mean a fair ammount of decarb to get rid of. Hopefully not.

ken

 

[Whit]

It's not thick at all. Maybe I'll try to measure it tomorrow. It is still sitting just like that in the shop. The blade was really really clean, one of the cleanest I've ever heat treated. I quenched it from 1550 degrees, so I don't think I overheated it. Just a fluke thing I guess. I like the damascus pattern in that chunk of scale!

 

[Daniel Koster]

looks like he already got rid of the decarb.


Crazy pic...that would freak me out too!