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Heat Treating and Metallurgy Discussion of heat treatment and metallurgy in knife making. |
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#1
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aluminum shot instead of quench plates?
Did a search and came up empty, with some of the discussions regarding quench plates and their inability to contour to a blade that's ground pre-HT, has anyone thought of or tried using a pan full of aluminum shot (available from metal finishing suppliers, particulate sizes as small as .015", about like table salt) to quench blades? In theory, the tiny beads would make very uniform contact with all surfaces of the blade, thus eliminating the differential cooling rates associated with plate quenching comparable blades.
My thoughts on process would be to have a pan half full of the shot, drop the foil pouch in the pan and then cover it up with more shot. The thing it doesn't necessarily address is warp, but with enough weight on it, the stuff is generally incompressible and may be useful in that respect as well. Thanks, I'm interested in your thoughts. -Radar |
#2
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Not enough surface contact. You disperse the heat by drawing it into the aluminum.
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#3
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I would agree with Mike. Quench plates remove the heat through conduction rather than convection and you want maximum contact. I know many have used either aluminum or copper which are best but if you don't have access to them, I have found that for most steels that steel plates 2-3" thick work quite well and are easily obtained.
Gary __________________ Gary ABS,CKCA, ABKA,KGA |
#4
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I use 1 inch thick alum. plates 6x12 inches for my hunting knives of S30V. I even keep the plates in my shop freezer part of the fridge. Does a very fast job of cooling down the blade and I have never had a blade warp on me using this procedure.
__________________ RELH |
Tags |
blade, blades, heat, hunting, knife, knives, make, metal, surface, tiny |
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