DonL
Well-Known Member
I tempered two knives recently in my little toaster oven. Set the temp to 400, verified by two different oven thermos. When I went to take them out after two 1 hour cycles, I had some purple coloring mixed with the straw coloring covering the blades.
Let me say that I try and temper just as quickly after HT as I can. I normally carry the still hot blade into the Garage, grab some old sandpaper and clean down to clean metal and pop it in the oven. I don't worry about getting all the scale off at this time. I just want some clean metal so I can see the temper color.
These knives both had the purple coloring on the "dirtier" sections of the knife. Where I'd sanded down to clean metal, I had the pretty straw coloring.
I'm wondering if it was the scale that turned purple or did I get the knife too hot? The knives in question are 1/8 1084 and neither had been ground as I prefer to grind the bevels after HT.
Let me say that I try and temper just as quickly after HT as I can. I normally carry the still hot blade into the Garage, grab some old sandpaper and clean down to clean metal and pop it in the oven. I don't worry about getting all the scale off at this time. I just want some clean metal so I can see the temper color.
These knives both had the purple coloring on the "dirtier" sections of the knife. Where I'd sanded down to clean metal, I had the pretty straw coloring.
I'm wondering if it was the scale that turned purple or did I get the knife too hot? The knives in question are 1/8 1084 and neither had been ground as I prefer to grind the bevels after HT.