I found a piece of 4" wide, 2' long 52100 1/8" thick I got from Aldo several years ago. I want to make some kitchen knives and maybe some hunting/utility knives from it. Does anyone on the forum HT 52100 for others? I would probably blank and drill and grind completely after HT to reduce warping concerns.
52100 HT?
- Thread starter Taz575
- Start date
EdCaffreyMS
"The Montana Bladesmith"
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mike miller
KNIFE MAKER
If you got it from Aldo, I don't know what Caffrey says , but normalize it three times before you heat-treat it do make grain smaller.
Jonnymichigan
Active Member
I second this. I've learned the hard way. I heat treated aldos 52100 without normalizing when I started. 53 HRC. No good. After normalized it was 61. Warnings are there for a reason right? Haha
Kevin R. Cashen
Super Moderator
Grain size wouldn't be a problem, the normalizing is to affect spheroidal carbide size and distribute the carbon for easier solution latter on. I was the one who came up with the normalizing schedule for Aldo to raise the hardenability. I have looked at a lot of his steel through the metallograph.
Jonnymichigan
Active Member
Kevin I have had that heartache w aldos 52100 as well when I started I thought I could harden it without normalizing but quickly learned I was wrong. After many hours trying to justify not doing it I finally gave in and now kind of feel like I need to do that even w my 1084. Last time I followed aldos recipe of 1650/1500/1350 ten min and air cool. Then 1485 and quench in parks 50. This batch at Tim's advice I just did a grain refinement soak of ten minutes at 1375 and then air cool and then 1485 ten min and quench in parks 50. Getting ready to put an edge on this one and will see what worked better. Still have to sand the plunge lines too so don't be too hard on me haha
