when your tempering a file...

[MAURICE]

can you just dip it in water after its done cooking,or do you HAVE to let it air cool?

i havent tried dipping one yet,for fear of breaking,cracking,or what have you.

maurice
soon to be knife maker (hopefully)

 

[peter nap]

Maurice, as one of the most incompentent people here I'll answer first and wait for the big boys to give you the correct answer.

I have had poor results with water quench on good file material (old files) If you want to try it, heat the water to about 130F or you will hear the dreaded ...TINK! That's a bad thing if your wondering. It means you cracked it.

I use vegatable oil heated to about 120 to 130. Swish the blade as it cools. I have my best results if I temper within an hour or so of hardening.....Good Luck!


SORRY ..I did the "didn't read the post thing again.

I let them air cool after tempering.

[This message has been edited by peter nap (edited 05-11-2001).]

 

[Sumo]

Hey Mo, As far as *tempering* goes, dont worry one bit about quenching a file in water, won't hurt it one bit. The only time where I'd really be concerned about would be water quenching something like ATS-34, where tempering temps can get up around the 900 degree range. If you're really worried about it you could always take an extra file and use it as a guinea pig

Rich

 

[L6steel]

Since when do you quench anything after tempering heat up????

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Take care!! Michael

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[Taz]

Mo, let air cool, or better yet, let cool is ashes...cools slower

But dont set them on fire! on second thought, let it cool slowly, don't quench..it will cause stress in the steel I think.

 

[MAURICE]

Mike,
im not talking about a quench,just cooling it off faster.It takes a while for it to cool down sometimes.(i burned the hell out of one of mom's oven mitts

)
-mo.