deforent hardined?

graveyard

Well-Known Member
ifi understand deforent hardened the cuting edge is harned will the slin is less hard for flex how excatly do i do these & will it be stronger for a thin blade knife?
 
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From what I know A deferentially hardened blade is mainly for the Hamon. There are may be benefits to deferentially hardening but I'm not sure how significant they are, but I'm sure someone else will know more than me on this subjects.
-Cameron
 
First of all, in metallurgy stronger has a specific meaning, to resist deformation. Differential hardening can indeed be done to display a hamon or quench line but it primarily, to my way if thinking, creates a tougher spine, which means in metallurgy to resist breaking. Is it useful in heat treating a thin blade? Maybe. A lot depends on the intended use of the blade. The method of differential hardening chosen is dictated by the alloy used to make the knife.

Doug
 
What Doug said...:1:

I feel that it is not as important on a thinner blade. The thinner the blade the better it flexes, and if you add a soft spine into the mix, the easier it takes a set (permanent bend).

I recently made a very thin kitchen knife out of 5160 (fully hardened) and it took a slight warp in the quench... my usual methods of straightening during the tempering didn't work, so I put it in a padded vise and went at it... I was amazed at how much the blade was able to flex without taking a set! I had it flexed over 120 degrees at one point... a thicker blade could have never survived that. If the blade had been differentially hardened, I would have had a much easier time getting the warp out.
 
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