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Once is not enough if we are making a knife. 1650F, if we didn't do anything after that, would cause large grains to be formed, however they will be uniform in size throughout the blade. However, large grains are not conducive to a good edge stability, so we need to reduce the grain size. (I...

If there is a discussion on steel going on somewhere, my radar will pick it up. If you're wanting to stick with carbon (in your case I would not use stainless....especially since it sounds like you are into the late 19th century vibe), you have many choices, as you no doubt know already. You...

Thank you, and I received your PM. I really appreciate it. So exactly why do you prefer 1.2442 over 1.2519? Just looking at the composition, I would think 1.2519 would be "tougher" than 1.2442. There is no Ni, no V, no Mo, less Mn, less Cr, less Si in the 1.2442. The only advantage I see...

SHOKR.....If you don't mind I have a question that is just BURNING inside. Was the knife tempered at all before it saw the surface grinder? The reason I ask, another gentleman on another forum had a problem very similar to yours. He was using O1 tool steel, had applied an anti scale coating...

Awesome....thanks for the info and the link! I am always interested in high carbon zero alloy steel!!!! What about this SC145 and Mr Wirtz? I have seen his name tossed around often, and he and I even exchanged an email or two if I remember right. I was trying to source 1.2519 (have since...

I am unfamiliar with C130 steel. I would assume it is a very low alloy carbon steel with about 1.3% carbon, and not much else. Like Hitachi White or something close? C135 I know, but C130 not so much. Where do you source it? If it has that much carbon, and very little Mn, I would love to...

Scott, I don't think that one will work. Take a look at the controls. It is a 4 way switch that is basically "low" "medium" "medium high" "high". That certainly won't work for heat treating. You could buy the kiln, and then wire in a controller, like a PID set up. But that is more work and...

I would certainly defer to Kevin, but I think this is all about martensite finish temperature. Mf on stainless steels is well below zero F, in many cases a few hundred degrees below 0 degrees F. The liquid nitro bath ensures that 100%, theoretically, of all austenite is converted over to...

I think as long as the steel is not heavily spherodized, as in Aldo's 52100, you won't gain anything. More than likely it has already seen the cycling at the mill. If it is heavily spherodized...then the pre hardening normalizations are practically a necessity. For me it all boils down...

If I follow you right, Franklin, you are asking if a given color can tell the knifemaker what his RC is after temper. One cycle, same steel, etc. In theory, yes. In application...no way.

Exactly. Take a fully hardened blade of 1095 at a given RC value, let's say you nailed it and it is at 66. Put that in an oven at 400F for an hour, and it will have a light straw color. Put it back in for another hour. It will be even deeper straw. Put it back in for another, and it will...

My addiction began while working for a custom rifle company. The gateway drug of choice for me was turkish walnut, and ever since I saw the crotch pattern and fiddleback in that first rifle stock, I've been addicted ever since. I have to do two lines of walnut sawdust in the morning just to...

If you have access to a RC tester, that would definitely be the way to go. Dial that baby in!

I have yet to dig into my new stash of Aldo's blue steel, but have done some heat treating with the san mai stuff available thru workshopheaven and dictum. The Hitachi steels come perfectly spheroidized annealed....so there is no reason to do any normalizing or grain refining if all one is...

There are differences between 80CrV2 and 1080+ as well. 80CrV2 traditionally had a shot of nickel, and Moly, that the 1080+ does not have. When I first started making knives....1080+ was my go to steel. EXCELLENT stuff for beginners and experienced smiths alike. There are only very slight...

LRB....good points!!!! "Not the best but acceptable" is a GREAT way to put it!!!! This is what I gather from reading you smart guys......canola oil is a fast quench (probably around the 11 second mark...not really fast like Parks 50 but fairly fast). However, a commercial oil is manufactured...

From what i understand....in order to get the grain SO SMALL that hardenability (depth of hardening) is so small that it will NOT harden at all....it requires many many many cycles. Probably more cycles than the average knife in heat treat is going to see. This is noticed by guys who do lots...

The carbon percentage is cast iron style!

Not having any experience with that stuff, and just going by the numbers....it is going to be very difficult to sharpen. With THAT much carbon, THAT much W, and THAT much V, I couldn't imagine the carbides in that steel! Probably not able to take a very super keen edge simply due to the...

Second, third, and fourth the AEBL (13c26). Super fine grained. Very easy to sharpen. Holds an edge well. Affordable as all heck and available in the proper thicknesses for kitchen knives. When I jump on the stainless steel heat treating bandwagon....it is going to be AEBL all the way.