Weird 1095 Heat Treatment Issue

bpiatt

bpiatt

Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
644
Hi Everyone,

I got this batch of 3/16" 1095 from TruGrit and surface ground it to a thickness of .175" prior to grinding the blade so everything was parallel and flat. The edge was left at .040" prior to heat treat. The knife was heated to 1475 degrees Fahrenheit in a digitally controlled heat treating oven. I used Evenheat Kiln Repair Cement to create a hamon and quenched the knife in DuBois #50 Quenching Oil. The knife was tempered twice for 2 hours at 450 degrees Fahrenheit immediately after reaching room temperature.

After tempering I noticed two cracks in the handle of the knife that run along the .175" thickness and are opposite of my grind lines. Also, this hamon looks very abnormal as if sections were not hardened.

Does anyone know how it could have cracked in the thickest part of the blade?
Is this due to something I did incorrectly and could it have been prevented?
Should I not use the rest of the steel bar that I made this knife from?









I am just stumped as to what caused this and am pretty frustrated. I am not sure if its a bad batch of steel or just a fluke. I have steel arriving from NJ Steel Baron tomorrow and am could to remake the knife using that. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
 
I think I'd ditch that bar of steel because of those cracks. Sounds like your process is decent from the info provided.

As for the hamon.....its really best assessed after full finish grinding to be sure what you're looking at is true hamon and not clay crud/scale/decarb artifact.
 
I've had this happen before towards the edge but I attribute it to leaving too rough grind lines.
 
HSC /// said:
I've had this happen before towards the edge but I attribute it to leaving too rough grind lines.
Click to expand...

I had everything at 220 grit prior to heat treat. It looks rougher in the pictures because I hit everything with 120 to remove scale and do a quick etch to see what the Hamon looked like and how bad the crack was.
 
bpiatt said:
No, I did not. Maybe that’s why this happened? I put the blade in when the oven was around 1200 degrees and let it soak for 10 min once I was at 1475
Click to expand...
It likely didn't cause the crack, but it might have over cooked the thinner part of the blade.
 
Ive been using AKS 1095 with no problems, actually my favorite steel as of now next to W2. Throw it in yoir eventheat once it has normalized at temp and soak 7 to 10 minutes. I also like a lower temp, 1435-1460 range for it. Have not had anything test lower than 63 with 2 tempers at 335
-Trey
 
The 1095 from AKS is extremely pure. Keep this in mind, i believe its makeup consists of only C, Mn, P, and Si

DISREGARD MY POSTS. I apparently cannot read your stock is from Trugrit. Have never used it sorry.
 
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