Figured out heat treating after messing up 8 blades in a row

Been forging for about 5 years now but heat treating always gave me trouble. I kept getting blades that were too soft or warped and it drove me nuts. Turns out I was just guessing on the quench temp instead of actually checking it with a magnet. Took me 3 whole months and probably 40 hours of trial and error to finally get it right. Anyone else have a simple thing like that that took way too long to click?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_viola3d ago

Man, that magnet trick was a game changer for me too. I was burning through steel blanks for months before somebody pointed it out. Used to just eyeball the color and hope for the best, ended up with blades that wouldnt hold an edge or snapped during the quench. What finally clicked for me was doing a few test quenches on scrap pieces first to dial in the timing. Checked with a magnet before every single one until I got a feel for it. Now I keep a magnet clipped to my forge stand at all times, no more guessing.

lee6893d ago

Clipped a magnet to your forge stand, man that's genius I never would have thought of that lmao.

green.iris3d ago

I see it differently, 1084 steel actually has a pretty forgiving window if you know the temps.