Hello all,
I understand that you should do what it takes to thermal cycle, harden, and temper the core of a stainless san mai blade. I also understand that things can go sideways if you don't take special precautions.
What do you you experienced folks do to HT your stainless san mai blades? Do you do a full soak with an edge quench? Or just heat the edge and then do a full quench? Or maybe a full soak with a short quench so that just the edge is hardened but the spine has a little mellower cooling curve?
I have a couple blades I'm hoping to harden and temper this weekend--one with an 80CrV2 core and another with a 1084 core. Any advice is appreciated.
Steve
I pay close attention to only austenize the lower 75% of the blade and full quench.
Karl B. Andersen
Journeyman Smith
This seems to be a good reason to use a simpler alloy for the core (like 1080 or 1084) as it requires less soak time to get closer to its potential.
I was considering moving to 52100 for the core (my reasoning was that using a medium speed oil to quench might be easier on the welds), but I've read that even medium speed steels have a difficult time staying welded at the spine when fully austenitized and full quenched.
|quoted:
but I've read that even medium speed steels have a difficult time staying welded at the spine when fully austenitized and full quenched.
They don't have a hard time staying welded - the core SPLITS down the middle as a result of the conversion differential of the hardening core and the non-hardening jacket.
At the spine both steel types are at their thickest properties and this is where the differential problem takes place, as this is where the most stress is located. Deep hardening or shallow hardening steel won't make a difference. You need to control what happens and where you want it to happen. There are numerous ways of making that happen.
Karl B. Andersen
Journeyman Smith
|quoted:
They don't have a hard time staying welded - the core SPLITS down the middle as a result of the conversion differential of the hardening core and the non-hardening jacket.
Thank you for clarifying that point. I think I've read that somewhere before, but it didn't stick the first time.
Steve
