Heat Treat on a 71 camaro leaf spring knife video

[Kevster]

Originally Posted by Hurley

Hmmmmm............interesting...........guess I'll call him Monday morning then! Question Kev, how long do I wait between 1 hour cycles....cool to touch?

Yes, I usually don't even turn the oven off. Check your blade and make sure it's straight before you temper it, if it's not you can clamp the blade to a piece of flat steel during your tempers.

[racjarrett88]

yes cool to the touch

Austin

[racjarrett88]

Don't be ashamed of video it just shows everyone what you're doing so they know how to help.

Austin

[Hurley]

Kev, how far is Plano from Denver City?

[Hurley]

Thanks Austin!

[Kevster]

I'm not sure where Denver City is, I can be in Dallas in about 10 minutes.

[Imakethings]

When you are tempering I'm a fan of having the blade sandwiched between two thicker slabs of steel to slow the heating and cooling during the tempering cycle. Granted it takes longer, but I think it helps.

Next, regarding building a forge (heat treatment and such). You can buy one, build one, or just about anything. The whole purpose is to get the thing up to temperature, there are a great many ways to do that some cheap, some not. To start I'd see about laying hold of some soft fire brick or kaowool and making a small chamber to fire with mapp. You can probably do that for maybe $20-30 and a bit of effort and tinkering. If you need some help finding insulating materials let me know and I might be able to locate someone in your region.

[Hurley]

Yeah Ray and I have discussed extensively about how I need to get kaowool and satanite coating, he keeps telling me until he's blue in the keyboard............lol, I really need to order some very soon. I don't know of any refractories in South GA, so yes I prolly need some help. Or I could just order some firebricks from home depot. I really like this propane, now that I'm over the inital cost of a tank. I have a small MAPP torch, but ray was telling me there was a way to feed propane into the forge.

[Hurley]

Denver City is the extreme west of Texas, about 30 minutes from New Mexico.

[Kevster]

Originally Posted by Hurley

Denver City is the extreme west of Texas, about 30 minutes from New Mexico.

I'd say about 8 hours then, Texas is a big state.

[racjarrett88]

Or you could get one of these and they probably have some 1080 or 1084 to practice with.

http://usaknifemaker.com/atlas-mini-forge.html

[Hurley]

Yeah it is Kev! Took me almost 2 days to drive across it when I moved to New Mexico! Austin, I'm getting an electric motor and a speed control delivered Monday to try and make a 72" grinder. Money is tight because xmas is coming too! Maybe my girl will get it for a christmas present for me!

[PsychoDawg]

USAKnifemaker has 1080 in good supply. Their shipping rates hurt though... They have a good selection of just about everything. I can't figure out why their micarta/carbon fiber rods cost so much. It doesn't matter much anyway, because they're out of stock.. Sorry for ranting...

[Hurley]

Got a great source for micarta if you need it, guy will custom make any color micarta you need, his prices are good too!

[WBE]

Originally Posted by Kevster

Get you some 1084 from Aldo and bring it to non magnetic then quench in oil immediately, then do 2, 1 hour cycles in the oven at 400.

http://newjerseysteelbaron.com/shop/1084/

Non-magnetic is only step A 2 in austenitizing simple steels. You won't reach A 3, full austenitization, until you come to at least 1450?. Non-magnetic is 1414?, and not enough to get a good solution with well dispersed carbides. 1475? to 1500? is the more ideal heat range, and is roughly one shade of red beyond non-magnetic. Austentization begins at about 1333?, but does not complete until above at least the 1450? range. If you worry about grain growth, it won't be significant unless you go above 1500? for a length of time. Think of an A 1 solution as thick mud, A 2 as soupy sticky mud, and A 3 as brown slushy water. Not a perfect analogy, but close enough. Another point is that allowing the blade to cool to ambient slowly in air after a temper cycle does nothing to help it, and only allows you to burn unnecessary energy in your oven waiting for the blade to cool down. Quench in water and you can put it right back in for another cycle. This process also helps convert any retained austenite that may be present.