Really dumb question

Roger

Well-Known Member
This one show's how really new to all this I am. What is 'decarb' (decarburization?) and is it a bad thing, good thing or what? I've seen what it is but have no knowledge on the subject.


Thanks.
 
Decarburization is a bad thing. It's the carbon being burned out of the steel. It's going to happen to some extent when you austinize the steel but oxygen and carbon dioxide in the forge atmospher makes it worse. You should have a carbon monoxide rich atmospher in your forge Overheating the steel also increases the rate of decarburization. The time that the steel is exposed to the wrong atmospher or very high heat is also a factor. It's not that much of a problem if you watch the forge atmospher and temperature.

Doug Lester
 
That's not a dumb question. The only dumb question is the one that goes unasked. Everybody can't be expected to know everything, and nobody knows it all from the start.

Asking questions is, in my opinion, one of the greatest tactics to becoming a better knife maker.
 
Ok, I saw that pic of the tomahawk in another thread with the decarb splotches. I have seen this on 2 of my blades thus far. I am using my mentor's forge. It's a 3 burner propane forge with both ends open. At one point he had a fire brick setting sideways in one end of the forge that blocked off 80-85% of the one end. I never asked him about it, I just assumed that it was to reduce heat loss. He had to move to a different location and that brick isn't in the forge now, maybe he just forgot to put it back in. The two blades (O1 drop point hunters) that had the decarb blotches came after he moved. My question is: does this brick help avoid the decarb by making the interior of the forge more carbon monoxide rich?

I probably have more questions than you guys have the patients to answer!:15:
 
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