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Old 04-22-2018, 04:02 AM
epicfail48 epicfail48 is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Springfield Mo
Posts: 95
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmontg View Post
Rasmus, it isn't in your best interest to send out O1 for HT. You go camping a couple of times a year? I doubt you'll notice any difference as long as you don't temper the blade back too far. If I remember correctly I had a couple of knives that a file would barely bite into after a temper at 400 degrees for 2 hours. Must have got them good and hard.

My S30V filet knives are very wear resistant and my customers in Florida wanted that. The very first knives I made were from files I tempered back and ground for working on a fishing boat in the 70s. I was tired of constantly having to resharpen my knives from cutting through bones and scales. Those file knives were very hard and held up well. Not too easy to sharpen, but I was a pro at that.

The first filet knife I sold was O1 and the skipper of the boat was impressed by how many fish it filleted without sharpening. That was HT in an oven, so don't be surprised if you don't get a few blades that good too. By the way, O1 does better with a longer soak if you can keep the charcoal from getting too hot. You might try to experiment by getting the steel a bright cherry red and then turn down the air blast a little and try to maintain that color for a few minutes.
Good Luck.
I second this. A commercial heat treat service will do an excellent job treating the steel to industry standards and wringing the best performance out, yes. That said though, something like O1 is designed to get that same performance when heat treated with down and dirty methods, so you arent going to miss it much. Now, some more complicated steel like s30v that requires a precise, high temperature soak at a certain time, followed by a liquid nitrogen tempermight be worth sending off, but simple carbon steels? Not unless you just flat out dont have the time or tools
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