Your thoughts on W2 tool steel

Haven’t tried it yet, but I ordered some 1075 from Aldo last week. Have seen some nice hamons with it.

Jeremy
 
Turns out I have 75 pounds of the DH3 square stuff. Looking like some W2 damascus in my future. In theory, that is perhaps enough "dark" steel for like 15 1.5 x 3 x 6 stacks assuming no loss in drawing it out to usable sizes.
 
I am jumping on an old thread but I have had good customer service from NJSB. However, I have had issues with batches of W2. More specifically, soft spots. I use Parks 50 and I start my bevels before I heat treat on W2. Most of the time there are no issues, but I have had a soft spot show up for what seems like no reason at all. I've always attributed that to the occasional impurity in the steel. Very frustrating when your spent the time and money on belts, steel, and other.
 
Carterwhopkins said:
Not having a good day!! Learned my W2 is inconsistent at best and may contain additional non-specified elements and that my Evenheat is probably messing up the HT by a couple of hundred degrees...
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I'm having all these exact problems today....hope you solved them. Ifvyou did send me some advice please
 
hawk41 said:
I am jumping on an old thread but I have had good customer service from NJSB. However, I have had issues with batches of W2. More specifically, soft spots. I use Parks 50 and I start my bevels before I heat treat on W2. Most of the time there are no issues, but I have had a soft spot show up for what seems like no reason at all. I've always attributed that to the occasional impurity in the steel. Very frustrating when your spent the time and money on belts, steel, and other.
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I just used up the last of my good W2 from 2014. I have about 18” of 1.25x0.125” left. I have substituted 26c3 as my go to for this type of steel. It’s relatively cheap, and available.
 
I agree with Warren.
It gets to the point that you come to the conclusion that the bad/iffy/suspect W2 is just not worth the effort.
 
I had a thread going about the problems I was having hardening my W2 from Aldo. After running a test on my oven to see where my temps were and adjusting for the discrepancies as well as replacing a faulty motherboard, I was getting 67+ out of the quench. Be sure you know exactly how your oven is running, the condition of your quench mediums and all the other variables before deciding the steel is bad. It would be mighty awkward to say "I'm sorry Mr. Steel Supplier for ruining your reputation. I found out the problem was with my oven."
 
Phat Doggy said:
I'm having all these exact problems today....hope you solved them. Ifvyou did send me some advice please
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I actually never really had any issues with NJSB W2 or my Evenheat.....was just responding to some posts about the issues with W2 and another post that someone made regarding their Evenheat not being accurate.
 
Just curious, but has anybody here had issues with Aldo's W2 when heat treating in a forge? I don't necessarily mean a forged blade, but heat treated in a forge. It seems I've only seen problems from people using kilns, and stock removal of course. Just curious is all :)

~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Some older vids of some of the older knives I made)
 
coldsteelburns said:
Just curious, but has anybody here had issues with Aldo's W2 when heat treating in a forge? I don't necessarily mean a forged blade, but heat treated in a forge. It seems I've only seen problems from people using kilns, and stock removal of course. Just curious is all :)

~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Some older vids of some of the older knives I made)
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Heat treating a steel with a 20f window for optimum heat treat in a forge is not easy, Don Hansen III can do it. I’ve seen a few other very experienced makers pull it off. I see no advantage, other than the claim that the inherent temp variation makes a more dramatic Hamon.
 
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Willie71 said:
Heat treating a steel with a 20f window for optimum heat treat in a forge is not easy, Don Hansen III can do it. I’ve seen a few other very experienced makers pull it off. I see no advantage, other than the claim that the inherent temp variation makes a more dramatic Hamon.
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I'm just curious if anybody who has has had any problems doing so, at least with the full edge hardened to skate a file. It seems some the HRC number I've seen are much lower than a file and far from optimum. I know it's obviously not the most scientific (or even seemingly logical) question, but as I said I'm honestly just curious.

~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Some older vids of some of the older knives I made)
 
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