That heat treat I messed up on a blade 2 years ago near Denver

I was trying to harden a 1080 steel knife I forged, around 2 years ago when I lived near Denver. I heated it up in my little propane forge till it was non-magnetic, then quenched it in canola oil. Problem was I didn't let it soak at temp long enough, so the edge came out soft and the spine was brittle. I tested it by chopping into a piece of pine and the tip snapped right off. My buddy who works at a knife shop told me I needed to hold it at 1475 degrees for about 10 minutes before quenching. Now I always use a thermocouple to check my forge temp instead of eyeballing it. Has anyone here built a cheap soak oven for small blades?

2 comments

2 Comments

kelly.parker2d ago

Man that soak time thing gets people every time, its like rushing a steak on the grill and ending up with a burnt outside and raw middle. Its funny how that same pattern shows up everywhere not just in knife making but in learning stuff too, like cramming for a test the night before and then forgetting everything a week later. Took me a few ruined blades and a cracked motorcycle engine block from overheating to realize that patience isnt just a virtue its a necessity. Now I set timers for everything even when I'm just letting epoxy cure, because my brain wants to rush to the next step.

dakota1602d ago

Oh man I feel that so hard. The epoxy timer thing is real, I do the same thing with CA glue now cause I used to pull clamps too early and wonder why everything was still wet. It's wild how our brains just want to skip ahead even when we know better, like some kind of impatience glitch we can't turn off. The motorcycle engine block example hits close too, I warped a brake rotor once rushing a reassembly and learned that lesson the expensive way. Setting timers feels dumb at first but honestly it saves so much frustration in the long run.