o1 tool steel

[WBE]

Originally Posted by earthman

How easy is it to HT that grade of steel then?

I thought that 01 was basically the easiest steel to HT, that's why most folk start off with it??

Many start with 01 because of the very reason you have. They are going by heresay from those that do not know better themselves. You can make a usable knife from 01 with a simple heat treat, but you have wasted your money because it will not reach it's potential. You can get similar, maybe better results from 1084, which is much cheaper, and responds well to simple heat treat methods. If you are going to send it out for HT, then 01 is fine to use. If you are going to do it yourself, you will not get the best from it without an oven or similar heat control. 10xx steels are basically iron, carbon, and manganese. Simple steel, simple HT. 01 is carbon, iron, vanadium, tungsten, chrome, and a few others. Not a simple steel. Carbon goes into solution pretty fast, but the other alloys in 01 take time at temp to thoroughly mix into a homogenous solution, and allow even dispersion of all. Not enough heat and time, you miss the boat. Too much heat and you miss the boat. If you do the HT yourself, use a 10xx steel except for 1095. 1095 is in a league all it's own. It can be more problematic than 01 for it's lack of sufficient manganese to aid hardening.

[Ray Rogers]

I forgot to mention that O1 really needs to quench in a pretty fast professional quenching oil too. Most new guys will be using canola oil, hydraulic fluid...something like that. Those oils work fine for 1084 but they aren't good enough to do the job correctly with O1.

Some of the guys who work with 1084 using the same type of tools you'll be using should jump in here. Basically, with 1084 you get it to non-magnetic and then try to go about 50 degrees higher. Be careful not to go much beyond that extra 50 degrees (that should not take very long at all once you put the blade back in the forge after determining that it has reached non-mag). At that temp, take the blade out and quench it.

I happen to use a vertical tank and quench the entire blade point first, that's my preferred method. Lots of guys use horizontal tanks and might quench the entire blade or only the edge. The choice should be made based on how the blade will be used and on it's size. No point in edge quenching a 4" hunter since normal use will never get much chance to bend it. A big chopping blade though can benefit from edge quenching.

Anyway, ignore all that for now and simply quench the whole blade (although you can leave the tang out if having a soft tang seems beneficial to your knife). Learn how to quench the steel properly AND reliably every time before you start thinking about differential quenching, clay coating, hamon lines, or any of the other stuff that can be added to a heat treatment on 1084. Warm your oil to 125 F before you quench, quench at the right temp (no real soak time on 1084), leave the blade in the oil until it cools to about 100 F (warm to touch) then dry it off and temper in a controlled oven at 425 F to start.

By controlled oven, I mean a toaster oven or kitchen oven (unless you're married) and use an external thermometer to make double sure the temp is where you want it. Temper for one hour and then take the blade out and let it cool to room temp in still air. Some guys like to repeat the tempering process for another hour after that, suit yourself.

Once that is accomplished, clean up the blade until it is barely presentable and stick some kind of cheap handle on it. Sharpen it and test it with every type of test you've read about up to and including finally breaking the blade in a vise (wear safety glasses!). I'm sure other guys will provide some detail of their favorite tests but in a nutshell, make sure it cuts and holds an edge without folding the edge or chipping. If it chips, it needs to be tempered higher, try 450F next time. If the edge folds over, lower the tempering by 25 degrees.

When you're satisfied that you have made a blade that you are proud of THEN we can worry about fancy finishes, nicer handles, and more complex heat treatment ....

[kriegerj89]

Thanks Ray I appreciate all the help