Quench plate size/set up

[AKmik]

Hello all,

I have spent the last few days digging through every old post and link I can find on heat treating stainless. I have dropped the coin on a Paragon heat treat oven which will be here soon. I am also grinding away on a batch of blades. ATS-34 and 440-C are the stainless steels I am using, along with some 0-1, the 0-1 is easy, I have that down pretty well and have my system about as refined as I need.

Now for the stainless steels......
My first question is on quench plates, I have read 12x12 is about perfect and at least 1" thick, that seems pretty simple. I am also reading lots of techniques, standing on the plates and such. I have this mental picture of a foil pack with four blades placed on the bottom plate and sandwiched between the two and my happy ars standing on the whole deal as it wobbles. wouldn't a vise be a real help here? maby lay the packet of blades spine down on a spacer and have the quench plates sitting in the vice, slide in the packet and crank down the vise........ I am probably complicating a simple process here huh?

Also as for the size of the plates, I have been pricing some aluminum .from what I have been able to find here the alloy does not really matter much, 1" minimum, and around 12x12", is such a wide plate needed? or could you get away with say a 4" wide plate that is about 10" long for 6" blades.

Also my last question is about the quench itself. If you have four blades in a stack in a foil pouch wont the two center blades cool more slowly than the two outside blades and affect the final hardness of the blades. Or is stainless more forgiving than I think ?

My previous experience with heat treating my stainless has been waiting for the mail man to return my blades, that was easy.

Thanks again for any info.

Mike

[mete]

I wouldn't stack the blades .I'd lay them out next to each other. Lay them out on the plate, cover and add weights. Some just stand on it, some use some type of vise.For 4 blades layed out 12"x12" would be fine.

[RJ Martin]

Mike: You need some extra size in the plates, as you need to work quickly without fussing over lining the packet up on the plates. Bigger plates= more heat capacity, too.

If your blades are the same thickness, the top plate will not rock if you stand on it. I can stand on the plate with a single blade without rocking. If you are worried about rocking, make shims .010 less than your blade thickness and put them at the corners.

DO NOT STACK YOUR BLADES, unless you want poor results and heartache.

[AKmik]

Thank you guys.

So one blade per foil pouch and 12x12.

I was thinking taking the time with a couple foil pouches would be bad for business, but I imagine a few extra seconds is all it will take before the top plate gets where it needs to be.

I have a few ready when my oven arrives , so hopefully I will be doing a couple test blades later this week.



Thanks .

Mike

[RJ Martin]

Mike: You can put many blades in the foil pouch if you like. They need to be the same thickness, and they need to go side-by-side, in a single layer.

[John T Wylie Jr]

does the type of al plate matter ? I was just given a 24 x 24 x 1" Al Plate..but have no idea what type of Al it is.

[RJ Martin]

John: No, it doesn't matter. BTW, a 24 x 24 x 1 plate is a nice gift!

[SVanderkolff]

Here is my set up. I have two plates , each are 6X 14 X 4 . much less area on the bench but lots of metal to absorb the heat. When I do a bunch of knives I have each one individually wrapped, I take them out one at a time, withthat much quench plate, they cool to handleable in about a minute, move the first one to the side and take the next out of the kiln and so on. I never stand on the plates. I am not sure how you get a better surface touch out of standing on the plates versus just leaning on them a bit. It is not as if yo are going to effect the shape of either the plate of the blade with the extra pressure.
This is what works for me.
Steve

[Don Robinson]

I use heavy steel plates. Not necessary to apply pressure this way. The heavy top plate has enough weight.

Aluminum isn't necessary if you have the steel. Steel removes the heat plenty fast enough. After all, these are air hardening steels. They quench just fine in air, so any steel plates soak out the heat faster than air. Of course, the more massive the plates the better.

[RJ Martin]

Don: Yes, both those methods are great.

As I frequently do multiple blades in a packet (sometimes 10), I have a lot of surface area, so the weight of my plate is distributed over a larger area. By standing on my top plate, I add 220 LB of weight. By bouncing on it, I add almost 400 Lb.

Is it necessary? who knows. It does give me something to do as I count off the time before I remove the blades from the packet!

[Don Robinson]

Yes, i understand, RJ.

I never have parts for more than two knives to heat treat at once and i usually do them separately any way.

When i'm making a multi blade folder I usually put all the parts together in one pack since the parts are usually the same thickness.