Can someone do a hardness test for me please?

Ernie Swanson

SASSY PINK LUUNCHBOX KNIFE MAKER
I am in the middle of tempering my first knife that I heat treated with my new oven.

I was wondering if anyone would be willing to do a hardness test on it for me?

thanks
 
Hi Ernie,
I would be glad to test your blade for you, I will pm you with my address. Just pay for shipping both ways and I will hit your tang in three different spots and let you know what your hardness is. What's the steel? I do not use my tester on Damascus, to many hard & soft layers to be accurate.
Sincerely,
Clint
 
Hi Ernie,
I would be glad to test your blade for you, I will pm you with my address. Just pay for shipping both ways and I will hit your tang in three different spots and let you know what your hardness is. What's the steel? I do not use my tester on Damascus, to many hard & soft layers to be accurate.
Sincerely,
Clint

Cool, Thanks Clint.
The steel is 1095
I will have my fiancee drop it in the mail box monday!!
 
I am curious to see what the results will be. I was playing around with 1095 and canola oil, but never had good luck. I finally gave up on it and went with O-1. I think you will find with a heat treat oven and canola oil, you can get good results (typically 62-64 Rc out of the quench).

I do still use 1095 and 15N20 in my Damascus, but I bought some of the McMaster 11 second oil. That combo performs pretty well. But like Clint said, getting accurate results when testing Damascus is pretty difficult and you'll get various readings.
 
I am curious to see what the results will be. I was playing around with 1095 and canola oil, but never had good luck. I finally gave up on it and went with O-1. I think you will find with a heat treat oven and canola oil, you can get good results (typically 62-64 Rc out of the quench).

I do still use 1095 and 15N20 in my Damascus, but I bought some of the McMaster 11 second oil. That combo performs pretty well. But like Clint said, getting accurate results when testing Damascus is pretty difficult and you'll get various readings.

Yeah I am curious to see also, I have a bunch of O1 stock and am going to start cutting blades out.
Whats your recipe for heat treat and temper for O-1? If you don't mind sharing :)
 
I pre heat the oven to 1500 deg. and let equalize for about 15 minutes. Place the blade (in a "cap & pouch" foil packet) in the oven and time for 10-12 minutes once the oven gets back up to temp. Remove the blade and quench in the oil pre heated to about 120-130 degrees. Temper twice @ 390 degrees.

I would also be cautious if you plan on tempering in your HT oven. I tried it a few times, but I think it gets too hot (from "rebound" heat). I think you would have to let it cool way down (much lower than what the controller says for your temper temp) before putting the blade in there. This can take quite a while, which most say to temper right away. I use the kitchen oven double checked with another thermometer.

I have read in a few places that O-1 needs a (lower temp) pre heat before going up to the critical temp, but I haven't tried that. I am getting a great rockwell with what I do now. I don't know what the pre heat affects.
 
Yeah that how I am tampering is in my kitchen oven with a thermometer in there.

Thanks much for the info!
 
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