Uh oh. Forgot to temper immediately.

Danbo

Danbo

Joined
Nov 28, 1999
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Quenched a big blade(9" or so), out of Aldo's 1084 last week, before we went out of town. Soaked blade at 1475 for about 20 minutes, then full quench into preheated Parks 50. No clay, just 1084. Damn Evenheat oven was taking FOREVER to get back down to 400 or so for tempering, and it was getting late, so I left the blade in the Parks 50, until I could temper the next day. Forgot about it, when we went out of town the next day and the blade has been sitting in the Parks 50 since thursday night. Am I going to be finding a cracked, useless blade tonight, when I get home from work and pull it out of the oil for tempering? :eek: Or, will I still be ok on this one? Anybody wanna place some wagers? ;)
 
I bet it is fine! Aldo's 1084 is magic anyways, I once quenched a 1084 sword into a lake and a lady popped out of the water! She gave me this killer sword which I promptly lost in a rock.
 
Eutectiod steel + Vanadium content + Controlled heat + Proper quench = JUST FINE.

There, I did the math for you.:thumbup: I wouldn't wait longer than 8yrs, though. It could spontaniously explode on your bench.:rolleyes::p
 
Daniel Fairly Knives said:
I bet it is fine! Aldo's 1084 is magic anyways, I once quenched a 1084 sword into a lake and a lady popped out of the water! She gave me this killer sword which I promptly lost in a rock.
Click to expand...

THAT was the one I pulled out.

Do you want it back? People keep expecting me to lead them into battle - and that just gets old. Plus my best buddy stole my wife over the stupid sword...


TF
 
I think we need to integrate this into the optimal HT equation. "quench in Parks 50 for 4 seconds, out for 2, then back in for a week"

that ought to show that martensite who is boss.
 
I love this forum..... I am guessing that it being ok would depend on the type of steel that is being HTed?
 
If I were to bet on you getting away with that on any steel, I would bet on 1084. I'm only guessing, though. Temper and test as usual from here on out and let us know what happens!

BTW Danbo, I still owe you a chunk or two of ElMax, I haven't forgotten, just been alternately busy and lazy :o
 
1084, being the eutectoid, is not likely to have any issue with a delayed temper.
Properly austenitized and quenched in Parks #50, there should be no RA, and little stress. If it did have cracks, it is almost surely from another problem, not the delay in tempering.
 
okay, time for a newb question here then. Assuming a delayed temper is okay, would it also be okay to temper a knife made from an old Nicholson file the same way? I ask because I ground a blade from a fully hardened Nicholson file a while back on a benchgrinder, and made sure to not overheat it. I hand sanded with Emery cloth up to 320 grit, then "tempered" it at 400 deg for 2 hours, twice, it had a beautiful gold color to the entire blank when I was finished. It has held the edge I put on it then for 2 years. I just wonder if I did any actual tempering or if I fooled myself and wasted several hours playing around?
 
Yes, what you did was the correct way to temper the file.
It would reduce the high hardness ( too high for a knife edge) and make it in the Rockwell 58-60 range.
You should do this before shaping the file into a knife, as it is much easier to grind Rc 59-60 steel than Rc 67-69 steel.
 
bladsmth said:
Yes, what you did was the correct way to temper the file.
It would reduce the high hardness ( too high for a knife edge) and make it in the Rockwell 58-60 range.
You should do this before shaping the file into a knife, as it is much easier to grind Rc 59-60 steel than Rc 67-69 steel.
Click to expand...

Thank you Mr Apelt, I've been meaning to ask you about a beginners kit for sometime, but didn't want to bother you. In regards to my first blade:
Yeah, it took me about 8-10 hours to grind the blade as I was making certain not to overheat the file, the handsanding was a real bastid until I tempered, a bit better after. Glad to see that I did one part right, my grinding skills need more work though, as one side of the blade is less acute than the other (edge off center). Hoping to get a belt grinder (Craftsman 2"x42") with my bonus, if I get one this year, that should let me screw stuff up at a significantly higher speed.
 
1084 002.jpgWell, it looks like I got away with it. Two 2 hour tempers later(at around 415), it looks like this. No cracks that I can see. :thumbup: Pics straight out of the last temper; love that golden brown color! 1084 004.jpg
 
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