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Old 09-16-2017, 02:39 PM
epicfail48 epicfail48 is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Springfield Mo
Posts: 95
Heat Treating AEB-L stainless

I'm sure this has been discussed before but I couldn't find much, can anybody recommend a good heat treatment regiment for the aforementioned steel? I'm just getting started with stainless, different beast from the 1095 I usually play with. So far my planned process is as follows, blades are .110 thick AEB-L sourced from aldo;

1. Profile and rough grinds the blade and bevels
2. Wrap knives in stainless steel foil with a little paper in there to eat up excess oxygen
3. Place knives in electric kiln preheated to 1950, soak for 15 minutes at temperature Here's the first thing I'm wondering about, a few of the HT recipes I've seen recommend a preheat at ~1500, then ramping to 1950. My kiln is a little slow on temperature ramps, I'm hoping skipping the preheat won't compromise the results.
4. Quench. Little fuzzy on this one too, from what I understand I can go air, plate or oil quench. Of the three I'm inclined to go oil, Parks 50 in particular since that's what I have. I'm wondering if that's too fast of an oil and I'm asking for warp or crack issues. I'm also wondering, can I go straight from the kiln to the quench, or should the blades be removed from the foil first?
5. Once blades are cool to room temp, soak in dry ice/alcohol bath overnight
6. Temper for 3 cycles at 300f to hopefully get 60-61 RHC
7. Finish grind, polish

So, can anybody see any issues with that process, or answer either of those questions?
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