Thread: O-1 question
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  #17  
Old 08-10-2016, 07:38 AM
WNC Goater WNC Goater is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: NC Mountains
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Hatfield View Post
I have been making some tactical knives for our local police dept. SWAT team out of 0-1. I normally use D-2 and S30V for my hunting knives. I harden the 0-1 at 1500 degrees for 15 minutes in a digital controlled kiln and quench in Brownell's "Tough quench" oil that has been heated to 125-135 degrees.
Then into a toaster oven at 375-400 degrees for one hour until my kiln cools down. Out of the toaster oven and allowed to cool to room temp then into the kiln for a 2 hour temper at 400 degrees. I use a separate temp gauge in the toaster oven to verify the correct temperature.
Out of the last 10 knives I am getting a reading on my hardness tester of 59-60 RC with the majority dead on at 60 RC.
Do not swirl the knife in the oil as I did on one knife and got a warp in the blade where it had been hollow ground to about 40 thousands. By not swirling the other knives in the oil, they came out with no warps and straight as they should be.
I finish the knives with removable linen micarta handle scales and give the steel a baked on coat of Brownell's Gun Kote for rust resistance. Having removable handle scales allows me to refinish the knife in the future with a new coat of Gun Kote and bake at 300 degrees if needed.
So since you post this and you're using to make knives for the PD, I assume you've tested and gotten good results with edge deflection and sharp retention?

In the oil quench I shuffle my blades forward and back and up and down with a slicing motion, but not side to side. I did that once and shazaam...it really WILL cause warping!


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