Heat treatment guide....

[Hunter10139]

Hey for all of us who have smartphones(even me with the cheapest crappiest one I could find) I was exploring the jungle that is the internet and found out that there is an app produced by ASM international and the ASM Heat Treating Society that "provides ready reference data on nearly 170 carbon and alloy steels". The app is called Heat Treater's Guide Companion and can be found on Google play and the apple store. I've downloaded and it seems to be pretty useful and simple(and it's free).

I didn't know if anyone was aware of this so I thought I'd post it.

[Ray Rogers]

I'll check that out. But, be aware that ASM heat treat specs are usually base on samples that are 1" thick and may require tweaking before they can be applied to knife blades....

[Hunter10139]

Ok thanks Ray, I figure it can still be a decent starting point though.

[Ray Rogers]

OK, I looked at it. I'm not sure its any better than, say, the list of HT processes found on alphaknifesupply.com but it covers the basic steels the beginners would use. I wasn't able to find any of the higher end steels like O1, 440C etc but the beginners won't need to know that anyway and the one's who do need to know already have the information (or should).

Do not assume that any steel listed on there is suitable for knives simply because it has a heat treatment - that is simply wrong. Also, much of the HT info listed for some of the steels we do use is not needed for our usage so don't get bogged down thinking that all those steps have to be done. I guess what I'm saying is that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing so use this app if you want but, if you're a beginning knife maker, you might be better served by staying with 1084 and the processes described in these forums because nothing that I saw on that app is going to make your life any easier....

[Hunter10139]

Yeah I was simply planning on using it to find basic info on steels I knew were okay for knives.

By the way, for the heat treatment KITH(assuming you're still taking knives for that) is 1080 instead of 1084 okay?

[Ray Rogers]

The HT KITH is a perpetual and ongoing project so, yes, still taking knives. 1080 is acceptable. Please be sure to follow the ugly pattern provided for the submission knife ....