Heat treating W2

K

KDX

Well-Known Member
I bought W2 for my first batch of blades and have an oven on the way. To heat treat it in an oven do I get the oven up to 1450 or so, put the knives in for 5-10 minutes and then quench in water? I'm guessing you don't use foil wrap with a water quench steel. If I want to try a hamon do I just do the same procedure with refractory cement along the spine? Thanks in advance.
 
Yep, you got it. If you are doing a water quench....make sure it is brine and NOT straight water. 10% salt solution. I would make sure there are no stress risers to cause a problem, polish it up well to 400 minimum (220 absolute min) with the scratches going lengthwise. Also using a brine quench you probably want to low ball the aust temp a bit, and I think your choice of 1450F is very good. Give a solid 10 minute soak.

A good friend and contact on another forum tweaked the W2 heat treat for his shop. I think the quench was Parks 50, but he was getting over 67hrc with a 1460F soak for 6 minutes, IIRC.

I always walk in my tempers. Start low at 350F or so. Then one or two more at the final target temp. Great steel, W2 is.

The main thing is that W2 needs a very fast quench, to get full martensite conversion you'll need brine or a fast commercial oil like P50 or DT48 or similar.

And for a hamon, yeah, just coat the flats with your refractory cement. W2 will give a great hamon. Some people coat the spine, some leave the spine clean. I usually will leave the spine itself clean.
 
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I do mine in parks 50 - I think you get a better Hamon. There is a good 'recipe' posted at another popular forum but I'm not sure that I am allowed to post. I can PM it to you if you like.

Stevew2 hunter.jpg
 
Thanks for the replys. I used up my W2 making these and will move on to stainless when I am finished the last one. How do I figure out a 10% brine solution? Math was not my best subject. Do you clean them with acetone or something similar before the heat treat?

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The brine or water quench can give you problems with stock as thin as knife blades. Even though W2, indicates that it is a water quench steel, when used to quench stock that is thin its easy to warp or fracture. The Parks 50 will give you the hamons you are considering and with much less chance of negative results. You can purchase it from Mystic Oil in Texas if you are looking for a supplier.
For hamons on W2 I prefer PBC anti scale paint on liquid from Brownell's. Its easier than clay and gives more interesting features in the hamon.
Your blade design and selection is very nice; are you going to grind the bevels before heat treating them?

Fred
 
Hi Fred. Thanks for the kind reply. I'm just getting into this and it's all pretty much new to me. Living in small town Saskatchewan leaves me with limited opportunities to purchase specific things like Parks 50. Is there an alternative that you could suggest? I will be grinding the bevels prior to heat treat. I intend to leave about a dimes width on the edge. When I get all the knives done I will find out what works and what doesn't as far as design goes. The top four knives on the right side are Murray Carter designs. They looked interesting so I thought I would try them out.
 
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I got Rc68 consistently with 1460 in my shop. I was following the lead of Don Hansen III, who was using 1450. After speaking with Kevin Cashen at a hammer in, I learned the value of experimenting in 10f increments, and found 1460 was the sweet spot in my shop with the Maxim oil. Since I normalize and thermal cycle, I limit the soak to 5 minutes now, and get excellent performance. Like Stuart, I walk the tempers up. The Hamons in this batch are spectacular! They make even a hack like me look like I know what I am doing.
 
Looking at your grinds, I have a question. Are you using a sled grinding jig? I have used one before and got nice straight grinds, but the tip seemed a little narrower than the plunge area, similar to what I think I see on yours. It could also be an optical illusion. If your tip grinds narrow a little, have you found it to affect performance?
 
Not sure. These are my first knives. I did a swedge on a couple and this is a pic of one that may help answer the question.

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The jig I'm using.

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The oven showed up today. Oh happy day!

 
Thanks. This is where I was at yesterday. The blade had a bit of a divot in it (other side) so the grind lines aren't even. This will be my test knife.

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Thanks. The test knife is done and I'll put an edge on it tomorrow and see how it performs. Maybe the heat treat was good, and maybe it wasn't.

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I glued up another one also.

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