Thread: Temper question
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Old 11-16-2017, 11:21 AM
samuraistuart samuraistuart is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: San Antonio Texas
Posts: 163
Not really. It would take hours upon hours upon hours (a day or more???) to significantly drop HRC. The higher the alloy, the more temper cycles. No more than 3 cycles, 2 hours each.

Doug is right, most of the low alloy steels (like 1080) only need a single 2 hour temper. I've even been told ONE hour for simple steels is plenty. The Japanese would only "temper" for a very very short amount of time (not saying that it is right, but they've made millions of very nice kitchen knives using a very short primitive temper method).

For steels like 1080, 1084, 1095, I do two cycles, 2 hours each, just for peace of mind. 52100, O1, O7, CFV steels like that, I treat them as if they were higher alloy stainless and tool steels, and actually do 2 hours each cycle, 3 times. I am certain that is overkill, but it doesn't drop the HRC any.
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