Advertisement
hey all, new here, great to see fellow smithies on here...ive been forging blades for the last few months, learned how to do it back in october with a guy named joe szilaski (szilaski.com- if you wanna see his stuff) but anyway i only learned how to forge blades, didnt learn anything about heat treating or tempering. i am currently making a few swords, was wondering what you all do for tempering and whatnot
posted by:
|
Unsubscribed |
Advertisement
Advertisement
-
It really depends upon the steel you're using (or whether you're using steel at all; I assume you are). Some steels are better suited to warm salt water quenches, and others are better quenched in various kinds of oil (motor oil, rendered lamb's fat, etc). Pay careful attention to your grade of steel, and you'll know how high to heat, in what to quench, and how to bring about the best temper.
-
-
Unsu...
yah i dont know what kind of steel it is, unfortunately, i just got it from teh local steel guy, i did get some nice 5160 and 1092, tho, i havent worked any yet, so all you do is dunk it in the oil? what about tempering? what process do you use? i tried the heating up a metal plate and placing the blade vertically on top of the hot plate, letting the heat travel through, i'm just afraid of making it too brittle -
-
On tempering, the closer to blue on the temper line one gets the softer the blade is. A straw color is good on 1085. The truth be told, blades can be very hard if one handles them carefully (Rockwell C 60-65 is quite acceptable, most commercial blades are in the 45-55 range) - one wants just enough temper so the blade doesn't shatter if dropped.
On quenching, don't just stick the blade into the bath, move it around. As the bath heats it loses its ability to cool the steel. Also if you are using oil, if it gets to hot it will catch fire.
-
-
