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Camp10
05-02-2010, 01:32 PM
I rarely post anything useful:innocent: but because I havnt put a knife on for a while, I thought I would at least give a quick and easy heat treat for plain carbon knives. This is a drop point made of 1095 I am making for a customer. I only have the one to do so instead of dragging out the big forge, I thought I would use my one brick forge (yeah, I know there are two bricks).

The picture shows about all you need to see with the forge. It is two refractory bricks that I hollowed out and punched a hole in for the torch. I use a propane torch and it works just fine for heat treating. I set it on an I-beam for safety and to give me an anchor point for the torch but you can use about anything that wont burn for your set up.

The other items I use are a telescopic magnet, a roasting pan (for the quenchant), blacksmith tongs,an old toaster oven and a cooling rack.

welderguy
05-02-2010, 01:48 PM
Simple, easy, and quick setup, thanks for posting.

Camp10
05-02-2010, 01:48 PM
My quenchant is olive oil. It works well and doesnt smell the garage up like motor oil does. I use a gallon of it for hardening. I would use more if I was to do more than one blade but one blade shouldnt overheat it.

The first step is to normalize the steel. The 1095 I use is already annealed so I need to get it to a stress-free state. To do this, I heat the steel just beyond non-magnetic and let it air cool until it is room temp. I repeat this step 3 times. It takes about a half hour between steps.

During the last normalizing heat, I will get the olive oil in the roasting pan and heat it to 125°. When the oil is ready and the knife is cool enough to handle, I get ready to harden the knife. With 1095, your speed to the quenchant is important. I place the pan close to the forge so I can go right from one to the other.

The steel will go back into the fire and I keep a close watch and keep the magnet in my hand the whole time. When I reach critical temp, I keep it in the fire for just a few more minutes and quickly move it into the oil. If you can see in the picture, only the edge is quenched. The rest of the blade is left in the normalized state. This gives the most strength while keeping the blade hard.

Camp10
05-02-2010, 01:54 PM
After the knife is cool enough to not transform any farther, I will drop the whole knife in the oil to cool all the way through. When it has been there a few minutes I fish it out with the magnet and wipe it clean. This is a good time to check to see if the quench worked. Drag a file across the blade and see if it grabs.

The knife will go right from the quench to the oven for temper. With 1095, I go 425° for 90 minutes. I will let it cool to room temp and put it back in for another 90 minutes.

I dont do any straightening until this last step has been done.

I think that covers the simple carbon heat treat. Good luck!

kyratshooter
05-02-2010, 02:35 PM
What temp and time in the oven do you use for 02?

crashdive123
05-02-2010, 06:02 PM
Thanks for the tutorial.

Camp10
05-02-2010, 06:46 PM
What temp and time in the oven do you use for 02?

I've never worked with O-2. The "cheat sheet" I use lists it with O-1 so I would go from there and work what seems the best for it. O-1 Needs a soak time (15-20 minutes) before it is quenched and I will temper it at about 400. I would start with that and test the blade. If it chips on the edge, try a little hotter.

Camp10
05-19-2010, 07:29 PM
I was getting ready to post the finished pics of Coyote Hunter's knife and realized I never took a finished picture of this one...here it is. It has been raining so it was just a little to dark to get a good picture, some day I will figure out how to get a picture of a knife that does it some justice.

crashdive123
05-19-2010, 07:38 PM
Trust me when I say - the pictures of that knife provide all the justice needed. It looks fantastic.

p moore
05-19-2010, 09:49 PM
What temp and time in the oven do you use for 02?

The only thing I can add to this. I have been using O1 for some time. It is very hard to soak a blade in a gas forge. What I do is quench the blade twice. I have tested the edge after one quench, and the file will almost bite the steel. After the second quench, that edge is like filling glass. Then temper as normal.

Nice work Camp.

Paul

COWBOYSURVIVAL
05-19-2010, 10:03 PM
Exemplary work Camp10!

Camp10
05-20-2010, 05:55 AM
The only thing I can add to this. I have been using O1 for some time. It is very hard to soak a blade in a gas forge. What I do is quench the blade twice. I have tested the edge after one quench, and the file will almost bite the steel. After the second quench, that edge is like filling glass. Then temper as normal.

Nice work Camp.

Paul

I have been able to do alright with a gas forge by sliding a pipe off to the side of the flame and placing the knife in it for the heat treat. I can keep the blade in the "red" range doing this. It stays non-magnetic and doesnt get any hotter then red. I guess I dont know the exact temp of the steel through the soak but I havnt had any issues with this method. I will try the two quench to compare though...I'm always hunting for a new way to heat treat. It is my favorite part of knife making.

p moore
05-20-2010, 10:05 AM
I have been able to do alright with a gas forge by sliding a pipe off to the side of the flame and placing the knife in it for the heat treat. I can keep the blade in the "red" range doing this. It stays non-magnetic and doesnt get any hotter then red. I guess I dont know the exact temp of the steel through the soak but I havnt had any issues with this method. I will try the two quench to compare though...I'm always hunting for a new way to heat treat. It is my favorite part of knife making.

"Sliding a pipe off to the side" I think I know, but if you have a picture, I read pictures more gooder.

This sounds interesting.

Paul

Camp10
05-20-2010, 08:51 PM
"Sliding a pipe off to the side" I think I know, but if you have a picture, I read pictures more gooder.

This sounds interesting.

Paul

I dont have any pics of this right now. I just mean out of direct fire. I set the pipe off to the right side of the opening in the forge so that the flame is just to the left of the pipe. I will get a few pics the next time I heat treat with the forge.