Edge quenching 1095 ????

Lerch

Well-Known Member
Hi guys

Well i am getting ready to do a run of a bunch of 1095 knives of the same make and my normal procedure is to clay quench them but I was wondering if it would be possible to edge quench them instead ? i figured this would be a little less time consuming and give a little more predictable results. My normal edge quench procedure i have done is to set my limiter block to the desired depth, then submerge the tip of the blade for around 5-7 seconds and then roll the rest of the blade down into the quench until hand cool

anyone know if will work with 1095 or does the steels need for a fast quench make edge quenching non viable ??

thanks
steve
 
It will work fine with 1095. I generally quench at least 1/2 the width of the blade, the quench line tends to be a little lower than the depth of the oil, in my experience.
 
I hope you are the blade for that period of time. Actually, I might do it for a little longer just to make sure that the steel in the spine has crossed the pearlite finish point before submerging the whole blade into the quenchant. It takes about 5 seconds for this to happen at 1000° so you will want to give it a little longer than that to get the temperature of the steel that low. Maybe until the spine drops down to a dark red at least before putting the whole blade in.

Doug
 
Thanks guys,

Ya Doug i didnt word that whole thing real well lol. I submerge the tip of the blade in the quench for around a count of 7 and then roll the rest of the cutting edge of the blade into the quench and hold there until the rest the blade (the spine and area left above the quench) have turned to a black color (no red). then i drop the blade and the quench and leave until it is hand cool. Let me know if anyone thinks i need to do something different along these lines

thanks
steve
 
I really wouldn't wait for a seven count to rotate the edge down into the quenchant. 1095 is a shallow hardening steel and you don't have long to beat the the nose of the cooling curve. I recommend that you immerse the tip and immediately rock the edge down into the quenchant then rock it back and forth tip to edge for a good 7-8 seconds. I think that the way that you described risks forming pearlite in the edge.

Doug
 
Thank ya Doug,

that answers exactly what i was curious/worrying about. Knowing how quick 1095 has to cool i was wondering about the hold times from the tip submerge to the back of the cutting edge submerge. i will try like you said,

thanks for the info

steve
 
I agree with Doug. I've not edge quenched before, but if I were edge quenching 1095, I'd plunge and rock tip to heel in one quick motion, while moving back and forth lengthwise for agitation. Almost as if you were trying to slice your stop block in half.
You want to make sure the entire edge hits the quench in under 2 seconds.
 
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