Need assistance on tempering process please....

D

DKknives

Member
Hi all,

I finished a knife today. After the tempering process, the blade had no color. It looked as though it had just been hand sanded.

My process was this...
1. sanded up to 600
2. normalized 3 times
3. sanded 220, 400, 600
4. Heated then quenched about 1/3 on the cutting edge in oil.
5. sanded 220, 400, 600
6. tempered 350degrees for 1 1/2 hr.

The picture will show what the knife looks like after temper. I have tested the hardness by flexing the edge on a brass rod.

Everything checks out, I've just never seen metal not color after temper. 034.jpg036.jpg

Has anyone seen this before? Maybe it has color, I just cant' see it.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you - Dee
 
Hey Dee...It would help if you would let us know what kind of steel you are using?????
 
Last edited:
Hello Dee,
Depending on the carbon steel 350 degrees is not hot enough to cause the colors to start. A faint light yellow is the first color to appear as temperature is increased. My process with 1095 is to sand to 180 grit harden and go immediately to tempering at 375 degrees. I want to stress relieve before any cracks appear. As such most of my work is tempered with the hardening scales still present. On occasion I'll remove some of the scales and even at 375 degrees I see very little color after the tempering cycle. I add one more step by heating the point to a peacock color to insure it can take a fair amount of abuse.

Nice looking blade, very useful overall style.

Kelley
http://blade.home.sonic.net
 
Thanks Kelley , I believe you are right. After much thought today it will be my EDC and probably needs more temper as i am not easy on knives. Thanks for comments and compliments. Dee
 
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