Advanced 1084 heat treating

[Jacob Gaetz]

Just a couple of questions on the more precise side of 1084 heat treatment
1. Does it make a difference how fast the steel is heated before quench. Would placing it in the kiln before it gets to temp be different from putting it in there once it is to temp?
2. My kiln takes about 30-45 minutes to cool down to tempering temperatures. Is that waiting too long to get the steel to temper after quenching? Or would that small amount of time not make a huge difference. Thanks for any answers

 

[Randy Lucius]

30-45 minutes won’t hurt. I let mine cool to ambient temp before tempering. Sometimes takes longer than that. I heat treat mine in a mini forge and it heats pretty fast so I don’t think the rapid heating will hurt. There are a lot of guys here with way more experience than me. Hopefully they will add thier advice. 1084 is pretty forgiving in heat treat.

 

[tkroenlein]

Standard practice is putting the blade in when it is fully heated, wait for the temp to equalize (level off) and start your clock for soak time. For 1084 that would be not more than 5 minutes.

 

[Kevin R. Cashen]

Standard practice is putting the blade in when it is fully heated, wait for the temp to equalize (level off) and start your clock for soak time. For 1084 that would be not more than 5 minutes.

^^
What he said.

I always introduce my blades to a heat source that has assumed temperature and leveled off. 45 minutes is not a lot of time to wait, so you should be safe, but generally you want to get the temper done as soon as possible, if you have fully hardened the blade. Hours, or overnight, could lead to disaster.