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Old 11-01-2016, 07:21 PM
Ray Rogers's Avatar
Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Wauconda, WA
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Actually, you probably did overheat the knife. Colors are subjective and 'bright orange' for you isn't the same as it would be for me. The magnet is the way to tell but from your description I'd guess you only noticed it was non-mag long after it passed that point. The trick is to catch it as just as it reaches that point, then let it rise another 150 degrees or so and quench.

The good news is that O1 will probably make a decent blade no matter how badly your HT worked out. But, it makes a terrific blade if you get it right but that won't happen in a forge, for that you need a furnace. Next time, get some 1084 and you'll have a good start on learning to heat treat.

I know this next part will probably fall on deaf ears but I'll say it anyway: you need to test that blade very hard and then break it to see the grain. That means don't spend a year polishing it and making a fancy handle, just do it rough and then test. If you won't do that you'll never know just how good or how bad the heat treat was so if you made a mistake you'll make it again on the next one ....


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