Elmax Heat Treat?

Matt Bufford

Well-Known Member
Just hoping to get some pointers on heat treating elmax.

I have an evenheat, and have done D2 and 440c. I just finished prepping my first elmax blade for HT, and wanted to gain insight from anyone experienced with this metal. I loved the way it grinds and sands, but I'm a little timid about the HT simply because the stuff is so expensive - a botched HT could be expensive!

So what recipies have worked well for you guys? Temps, soak times, cryos, etc...

Thank you
 
Copied from USA Kinfe maker web site.




Soft annealing
Protect the steel and heat through to 980°C
(1800°F), holding time 2h. Then cool in furnace
20°C (40°F)/h to 850°C (1560°F). Holding
time 10h. Cool slowly to 750°C (1380°F).
Then freely in air.

Stress-relieving
After rough machining the tool should be
heated through to 650°C (1200°F), holding
time 2 hours. Cool slowly to 500°C (930°F)
then freely in air.

Hardening
Preheating temperature: 600–850°C (1110–1560°F).
Austenitizing temperature: 1050–1100°C (1920–
2010°F), normally 1080°C (1980°F).

Quenching media
• Forced air/gas
• Fluidized bed or salt bath 200–550°C
(390–1020°F), then cool in air
Note: In order to obtain optimum properties,
the cooling rate should be as fast as is concomitant
with acceptable distortion. Temper
immediately the tool reaches 50–70°C (120–
160°F).

Sub-zero treatment
Parts requiring maximum dimensional stability
should be sub-zero treated as volume changes
otherwise may arise.
Immediately after quenching the piece is subzero
treated, followed by tempering. Uddeholm
Elmax is commonly sub-zero treated
between -150°C and -196°C (-240°F and
-320°F) although occasionally -40°C (-40°F)
and lower temperatures are used due to
constraints of the sub-zero medium and equipment
available. A treatment time of 1–3 hours
at temperature will give a hardness increase of
1–3 HRC.

Tempering
Choose the tempering temperature according
to the hardness required by reference to the
tempering graph. Temper twice with intermediate
cooling to room temperature, the
preferred tempering temperature is 250°C
(480°F) (for approximately 60RC) or higher. In exceptional cases, a minimum tempering temperature of 180°C (350°F) can be used for small simple inserts
and parts where toughness is of less importance.
Holding time at tempering temperature
minimum 2 hours.
 
I have had great success with it. Following this recipe. This stuff is my all time favorite Stainless steels.
 
Great. Thank you for the quick response. So on the quench, I'm only set up for plate quenching. Is that sufficient alone, or do I need to set up a fluid quench. If so, what is the best fluid and how should I set it up?

And which tempering do you use? And what hardness range have you seen function the best with Elmax?
 
Plate quench is fine, I blast air through the plates .. I tempered 2 times first cycle 450, second cycle at 480

I did not Cryo treat but have heard it does add a couple points to the RC. But the stuff is SUPER tough and has great edge strength and holding without Cryo

Its really not hard, In my experience, as long as you soak at temperature for recommended time and at proper temps. Plate quench you will get good results!

I felt exactly the same way when I was doing the first blades in Stainless let alone the fact they were Elmax. But I had guidance from another forum member. With very good results. I have not tried testing the waters and messing with the formula. Because it worked.. :) Good luck and have fun

Randy
 
I built 3 knives last year in Elmax using USA's heat treat recipe and i was very pleased with them. they were able to whip through deer and hogs with no sharpening needed, i did have to resharpen a time or two on some elk but part of that was it was my first time with elk and i had NO IDEA what i was doing :)

its a great steel and i cant wait to use the rest that i have of it. I cryo'd mine but i cant tell you if it made a difference or not, i cryo everything i make (i didnt pay that much for a liquid nitrogen dewar for nothing) :)

steve
 
Thanks for all the info guys. I'll be heating this blade tomorrow; taking my daughter on her first camping trip today, but she is only 5 so I'll b home late morning.

Will let you guys know how it comes out
 
It's kind of strange, I was going to ask the same question about heat treating elmax and it was answered before I could ask. You guys are good!!
 
Elmax is fantastic stuff. I really like it.
It's also a stealth seller. After our give away last year it was fairly quiet on the forums. What I didn't really notice at the time is how well it has started to pick up in sales. I sold through most of my stock an didn't see that happening. We have more on the way now and should have it back in stock next week.

When I made a test blade, I ground the edge with a double grind, part of the edge was a typical convex edge, part of the grind was hollow ground that was really thin. I hacked at everything (reasonably) I could find to test the edge. I had it hardened to 61.5RC. It held up amazingly well. It didn't chip out like I really expected it would and held the edge. I hacked at hard oak shipping pallets and tried to twist chip out the edge and it chip out. You won't go wrong using this stuff.

Elmax prefers 61RC vs. the typical 59RC of a 440c/ATS34 type steel.
 
Great. Thanks for the response Tracy.

If this stuff performs that well for me, I'll likely be laying dibs on some of that incoming inventory!

BTW, loving my evenheat. Showed up quick, and hasn't cooled down since.

-matt
 
Claude Scott is making a round knife for leather cutting here in my shop. I plate quenched it and left it over night on the Bench. I didnt have any liquid nitrogen for a cryogenic but it is at 63 rc right now without a temper cycle I,m thinking about not tempering it and trying it at the 63rc. Do you guys see any trouble? It's a leather cutter, not a hunting knife.
 
Claude Scott is making a round knife for leather cutting here in my shop. I plate quenched it and left it over night on the Bench. I didnt have any liquid nitrogen for a cryogenic but it is at 63 rc right now without a temper cycle I,m thinking about not tempering it and trying it at the 63rc. Do you guys see any trouble? It's a leather cutter, not a hunting knife.

Thats basically what I did for my leather knife. It is D2, ground out with a 1" sheepsfoot blade, hardened, and not tempered. Goes through leather like a warm knife in butter, and will not likely need to be sharpened any time soon. IF the only thing the blade will touch is leather, you shouldn't have to worry about tempering.
 
Claude Scott is making a round knife for leather cutting here in my shop. I plate quenched it and left it over night on the Bench. I didnt have any liquid nitrogen for a cryogenic but it is at 63 rc right now without a temper cycle I,m thinking about not tempering it and trying it at the 63rc. Do you guys see any trouble? It's a leather cutter, not a hunting knife.

for leather I think that will be perfect. The factory rep kept telling me about all the testing they did at 63RC and wanted me to try it. I have not had the time but they were pretty confident it would hold up.
 
Thanks guys. We cut the handle out last night from some nice ebony. I'll let ya'all know how it works. Its just the (no cryo) that nags at me.
for leather I think that will be perfect. The factory rep kept telling me about all the testing they did at 63RC and wanted me to try it. I have not had the time but they were pretty confident it would hold up.
 
for leather I think that will be perfect. The factory rep kept telling me about all the testing they did at 63RC and wanted me to try it. I have not had the time but they were pretty confident it would hold up.

So they are claiming this stuff can make a usable knife blade at without it being too brittle? That seems kind of counter intuitive according to everything everyone seems to know about all the other steels. Since it always seems to be a give and take between hardness and toughness - What about the toughness?

I would love to see info on testing done with this. I'd imagine it would be a nightmare to sharpen, but at that hardness I can not imagine it needing much resharpening.
 
Slacker. (may I call you by a nickname?) :) Your instincts are good. Custom knifemaking is often about testing the limits, but if you are going to play on the edge, it's important to have a net.

Rob!
 
I love nicknames, especially when they are applicable!

Very cryptic one, aren't you?

Not sure what you mean about playing on the edge, but if I have enough rope I can have a lot of fun there!
 
Sorry

Didn't mean to be cryptic. If I were going to produce a blade at 63 RHC - especially when experienced makers are asking "really?", I'd be sending it to a torture tester before before I sold such a thing. The spec sheet for this steel shows recommended hardness as 58 - and max hardness as 62 - and now everyone is talking 63 - or even untempered. This is definitely "out on the edge".

Might work..... :) ....maybe....
 
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Well I do hope it works. Claude and I finished it up at 63 rc, it sure took a wicked edge and he went home to try it out. I'll let ya know asap.
 
Well I do hope it works. Claude and I finished it up at 63 rc, it sure took a wicked edge and he went home to try it out. I'll let ya know asap.

Fantastic! On my next order I'll probably get some extra to do my own testing with. I have to say, the prospect of getting a durable blade that hard has me very excited... Pending results of course
 
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