where do I get 1050 steel?

yes,,,,thats very true,,,
However I was asking more about pre-cracked by Daqotah , type steel....and not my growing pile of post-cracked by Daqotah steel...
 
how about some 1065? Kelly Cupples has it:
1065
1/4 x 1 1/2...........( 10" in a lb )..................$ 2.00

and on orders of $25 or more it includes free shipping.
his phone is: 509-728-0057
his email is: octihunter@charter.net
 
terry....If I call in the morning, I will need to know where Im calling so I dont wake him up too early and get him in a bad mood right off the bat....

any idea where the phone number connects to?
 
UPDATE!!!!'

After a few emails I decided on a place to order some of this 1065 steel.

2 emails later and one phone call I have my first order on the way,,,it ships in the morning!

Im very happy....thanks for the advice, to tell the truth I have been really feeling down the last few days. I have a growing pile of cracked blades, and I kept thinking of all the money I was turning into junk...(Admaral Steel charges me near $100 bucks for each order)

I turned next to the old 5160 steel because I want to keep learning, but not at so much money per attempt.
However, lets face it,,,my ideas for a Katana/ curve in the quench, just didnt pan out the way I was hopeing...

BUT NOW!......I have some 1065 steel on it's way ( Kelly Cupples , $25 bucks for 3 Katana size sections and free shipping!)...at this point, I dont really care if someone tells me that 1065 will not make a good Katana, Im just happy to be back in action with a steel you guys seem to also know a few things about ,,,,,by the way, any secrects to making a Katana with this type of steel?
will the things in the Wally Hayes VIDEO with 1050 apply to 1065?
 
1065 will make a great katana, bowie, hunter, prybar, or whatever you want to make from it. That is IF you dont do something improperly.

Make sure your geometry is correct.

Normalize before you quench

Quench straight down in a long container of brine at 150 degrees or oil at 130-145 deg,dont try to be fancy and quench horizontally. It works but expect more possible failures.

You MUST have the whole blade heated evenly. Do it in minimal light and make sure it is EVEN. Not bright orange here and dull red there. It WILL curve in a bad way or crack.

The steel does not need to be screaming yellow hot to quench. Check with a magnet often and when it goes non-magnetic, move it around and make sure the heat is even. If it's not pull it it out and let it cool off and start over.

I also have some 1065 from Kelly. I've made a couple of large knives (see "classless brass post") It's great stuff and will produce a beautiful and active hamon. I have a project in mind that is going to be made from this steel. drew it up last night as a matter of fact. I'll share my experience as I go along and you can see how I do it. My project is not a katana but will be about 36" long and the same principles will apply.

This aint rocket surgery. Your making this harder than it should be.
 
Mark Williams said:
Normalize before you quench
Click to expand...
That is a new idea...I will give that a try...However I need to ask about this...

lets say that I when I get my steel I have to forge it a bit to get it ready for the belt grinder...
Then when I have the blade ready for the clay coating and the heat-treatment I need to "Normalize " then....with no clay on it?...or with clay on it?...

Mark Williams said:
Quench straight down in a long container of brine at 150 degrees or oil at 130-145 deg,dont try to be fancy and quench horizontally. It works but expect more possible failures.
Click to expand...
Good GAUD I wish I could have talked to you about 2 months ago,,,,the whole quench water tank idea is killing me..I ended up useing my cows stock tank with about 4 million gal of water that I could never get hot enough...

but if I can do this your way, then..I have a capped on one end, 8-inch wide pipe already!,,that will work great!...I just need to heat the water with a few quenches of red hot steel and Im all set...

Do you believe that there is any need for an INTERUPTED QUENCH?

In the Wally Hayes video, he teaches to dunk for about 4 seconds, then lift out for about 4 seconds, then dunk again.....

I never ever thought I got that part down correctly,,,its all so hit and miss...


Mark Williams said:
I also have some 1065 from Kelly.
Click to expand...
Mr Kelly was fun to talk to,,,his voice sounds like your photo looks...( I mean he sounds, Western cowboy..LOL)


Mark Williams said:
My project is not a katana but will be about 36" long and the same principles will apply.
Click to expand...

I will be very interested in your posts on that project
 
lets say that I when I get my steel I have to forge it a bit to get it ready for the belt grinder...
Then when I have the blade ready for the clay coating and the heat-treatment I need to "Normalize " then....with no clay on it?...or with clay on it?...


Just make sure that the last step before you quench is to normalize. That means if you suddenly decide to grind off a bit here and bend it a bit there because its crooked. Normalize it again before you quench. Before the clay :)
 
ok, sounds good,,,,

Thanks again for the idea of the up-and -down quench ...

I got this HUGE stock tank sitting on blocks in my shop with a hot plate underneath it thats always running...It takes up 1/2 my work area....

If this 8-inch pipe can do the same job, Im very happy to drain that stock tank and drag it back out the the fence...


I will Normalize the blade
I will cover the spine area in clay
Heat very even to a just non-magnetic state
dunk in the water, (Or oil, not sure what I will use yet for 1065)
and then temper in 300 kitchen oven for one hour


right?
 
Sounds good other than the "Just non-magnetic. Just be aware that the steel goes to non magnetic a lot earlier than most people think.

Oh and dont do anything fancy in the quench. When I quenched the last blade of 1065 , it moved around enough all by itself :)

Just dont do any crazy 8's or anything. A gentile up and down will work. You might want to see the fixture that I'll be using to move my blade with before you get ready to quench. basically a piece of long pipe sunk in the ground, with a piece of pipe slid over it. The larger piece will have an arm welded to the "Slide" that will hold the blade for both heating and quenching. I'll post pic's.
 
Mark Williams said:
basically a piece of long pipe sunk in the ground, with a piece of pipe slid over it. The larger piece will have an arm welded to the "Slide" that will hold the blade for both heating and quenching. I'll post pic's.
Click to expand...

yes, I cant really understand what the design is yet...
 
1065 will make a great blade.


It can and will get hard in oil.

Do SEVERAL thermal cycles on it to stress relieve, refine the grain, and lower the hardenability!!!

1065 can be water quenched, but it is less forgiving than 1050 in water.

Quench it in about 10 gallons of oil and you'll really have something.

I can tell you from a mech engr. background, and real life bladesmithing experience... MOST smiths don't use nearly enough oil to quench in.

This is keeping in mind the difference between pretty darn good, and as good as it could possibly be.

:D
-Nick-
 
I'll paint you a picture.

attachment.php


Here's a blade from Kelly's 1065

attachment.php
 
NickWheeler said:
Quench it in about 10 gallons of oil and you'll really have something.

MOST smiths don't use nearly enough oil to quench in.
Click to expand...

ok,,,,in my situation I happen to have a 8-inch sewer pipe thats capped on one end...I have it filled with John Deere Hydorlic fluid..Hy-Gard.

This pipe is about 4 and 1/2 feet tall...I have no idea how many gal is it it but perhaps 20?

I had this thing already built because I tried to make a sledge hammer handle unable to break by soaking the hammer for a year in this oil pipe...thats was 2 years ago and it's been sitting in the corner untill today.

think it can work?
 
Not to be a poo-head, but I gotta disagree with Mark on one point.

With a sword I'd recommend a horizontal quench. With that much blade length, it can be hard to get from the tip to tang all in the quench by the time you need to. I'm not saying it can't be done... it can... but a horizontal quench has been done successfully on swords for centuries.

Other than that I agree with everything he said.

I guess we won't have to dual till death afterall!!! :p :p :p

-Nick-
 
Oh yea... drain the oil, cut/drill a hole in the bottom of that tank and weld on an internally threaded pipe nipple.

Screw a water heater element into it and wire on a cord, and you will be able to heat all that oil in short order... probably 15 minutes or so with no worries of sticking hot bars of steel in it. Just plug it in, stir it, and monitor the temp.

I have this in all of my quench tanks... and you WILL LOVE how much easier/cleaner it is than sticking hot bars in the tank!!!

-Nick-
 
Better watch out Nick. I plan on moving to somewhere in Northwest Washington in the near future :)
 
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