yet another noobie question

C

CMN

Member
Ok, here goes ( I really hope this makes sense ) - so I have quite a few one off blade designs that might or might not have made it to full up knives. Also full up knives that i am not happy with that represent good amount of "wasted" steel. Is it possible to "break" the Heat treat and revert the steel back to original non heat pliability ? I ask this mostly because i would like to be able to recycle old blades that are just sitting in a box rusting. and of course there are financial reasons.

So, is it possible to "break" heat treat and make the steel usable again ? like soft enough for drilling -
and what technique or process would i use to achieve this ?

thank you all for the great info in advance !
 
If you just need to drill a pin hole in hardened steel you can,
One,
Chuck up a broken drill bit and put it down on the steel till it gets really hot to loose the hardening so you can then drill it with a HSS drill bit.

Two,
What I do is buy a carbide drill bit, put your drill bit on the slowest setting and with a drop or two of cutting oil, Even Motor, oil or 3 in 1 oil and slowly drill the hole.
 
TY, for the info. First off mostly 52100 ( 0.98-0.105 ish ) and some thin D2 (0.98 -0.113 or so ) is what I'm looking at trying to anneal. But i came across some of the thicker AEB ( 0.113-0.125 or so ), which is what I'm really aiming for. And as a redirect to Mr Laurence, with your technique basically im using a broken drill bit to heat the steel in a small area in order to un-temper ( not sure that's a word ) the steel so it can be drilled properly ? OK, thank you i will give that a try. Thank yo all for you info and advice !
 
working on this old stuff is a waste of money!!...you need tools, energy and the like, have a loss of carbon and whatever, (and the technique with the broken drill bit is a good joke! sorry:lol:)...and at last: you will fight the mistakes, getting not rid of them just changing them into another mistake.It also will slow down the developement to get better
Problems of the blade grind start earlier than often suspected........by the way: soft anneal an air hardening D2 is a special subject, you need a vacuum furnace, ...this you cant do by yourself at home!
get some fresh, good high carbon steel (which is a lot cheaper than, for example D2), and see the opportunity to make it better...and cheaper.
good luck.
 
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