So I just got some CruForgeV and decided to play around with it. I have not completed a blade with it yet, heat treated etc... but have found it forges great and creates an excellent pattern with 15n20 because the CruV etches so dark.
I just have one problem. The stuff keeps dulling my bandsaw blades.
Cutting the raw bar to stack it up is fine. But once I forge out a billet, set it out to cool in the corner, and then go to cut and stack... no dice, just skips along the surface after biting in about 1/16 of an inch. I am useing a Jet Horizontal/Vertical with a coolant running. I had a pretty rough tooth blade on it the first time I tried and figured that was the problem (it was just one of the Starrett blades that came with the saw) So I went out the next day and got a.... 10-14tooth 3/4" BiMetal blade. I know that is still on the rough side but it is the smallest tooth size i could get before going to a 1/2inch blade. I set the spindel speed to the slowest setting, turned coolant on full blast and it cut the handle off the billet quite nicely.... That one cut also dulled the blade.... Next cut was just like I was using old blade again, about 1/16th in and then nothing but skipping along the surface.
I have primarily worked with 1080 and 15n20 (which I have never had a problem cutting), but have been playing with different blade steels lately. 52100, 5160, AEBL, 44C, CruV I was under the impression that nice horizontal bandsaw with a fairly fresh blade and some coolant would be fine to cut through unhardened material. Should I be using an abrasive cutoff saw for some some of these steels? The AEB-L esp dulled a blade too.
I did manage to cut the billet with a die-grinder and a cutoff wheel, but leaning over a billet cutting through it with a 3inch disc SUCKS.
Please any assistance or input at all would be greatly appreciated.
It sounds like the bar is air hardening or developing retained carbides. Try a sub critical anneal heat to 1200 DegF and hold if possible for 1-2 min per inch, I have this same issue with a 1095/L6 mix I use now and then. Or use an abrasive chop saw for cutting to restack.
MP
Matthew is correct - Cru-V will air harden like a big dog.
Right after it came out, I had a similar issue with it air hardening in that I was threading a tang and it was a no-go.
It is VERY deep hardening, so cooling down from any austenitic temperature - such as forging Damascus - will create a bit of martensite.
I called Crucible steel right away and talked to the metallurgist who worked on its creation with Dan Farr.
In my case, with a blade that was nearly complete, a simple low-tech spherodizing cycle isolated on the tang area was all I needed to do.
In larger portions, you would need to do a sub-critical anneal with a simple soak at about 1250 for an hour or so.
If you're stacking up pieces to increase layer count in a Damascus billet - you need a cut-off saw.
A cut-off saw doesn't much care if a piece of steel is hard or soft.
There are numerous steels that will air-harden a bit while making Damascus, and even if that's not a problem, all the scale and such is not a good thing for a band saw blade.
Get a cut-off saw.
Karl B. Andersen
Journeyman Smith
Thanks very much for the info guys 
How did this combo of CRUV and 15n20 work out, would like to see how it etched, as well as how it cut etc.....
