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Ok so I hardened a test coupon of the 1074 steel from work and Rockwell checked it and it was coming out consistently at 74RC before tempering. I haven’t tempered yet but will post those results then. I haven’t found any good info on heat treating 1074 so I used a heat treat recipe from Alpha Knife Supply for 1075. I assume that is ok???
1550f, 5-10 minute soak. I quenched in cold, used motor oil. Anyone have any suggestions? Am I on the right path? 74RC seems really hard before tempering but I have no idea. Should I use the money I’m saving on steel now to buy some parks 50? Should I be warming my oil up any? I’d like to figure out a good way to consistently heat the oil other than just dunking some hot steel in it if it is necessary to be warming it. Thanks fellas.
 
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Did you grind off any scale or decarb before Rockwell testing?

74 seems REALLY hard (unheard of?) for 1074, especially when looking at the certs.

I really question that when its coupled with the fact that you quenched in cold motor oil, which is a terrible quench medium to begin with.

If you are planning on using shallow hardening steels to any degree in your future, I would without hesitation ABSOLUTELY plan on investing in parks 50.
 
J. Doyle said:
Did you grind off any scale or decarb before Rockwell testing?

74 seems REALLY hard (unheard of?) for 1074, especially when looking at the certs.

I really question that when its coupled with the fact that you quenched in cold motor oil, which is a terrible quench medium to begin with.

If you are planning on using shallow hardening steels to any degree in your future, I would without hesitation ABSOLUTELY plan on investing in parks 50.
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Yessir, I surface ground both sides of it.
Ok, I was wondering about that. It seemed like it was high but I didn’t know. I’m now questioning the calibration of the Rockwell tester at work lol.
Ok. Is one gallon enough? I’ll have to have a smaller quench tank and I often HT more than one knife at a time. Will one gallon heat up to fast?
 
I personally would want more than one gallon to allow for better heat dispersion/dissipation and more room for agitation of blades.

I use 5 gallons.

The highest Rc numbers from regular/common knife steels we typically see would be around 67 Rc. I think these numbers are typically seen in the steels with higher carbon contents such as w2, 52100, 1095, w1 etc..

I see nothing in that chemistry of 1074 that would allow it to hit 74 Rc but I'm no expert on the subject.
 
Ok thank you. I’m assuming 1074 is close enough to 1075 to heat treat them the same? What HT numbers do you recommend?
J. Doyle said:
I personally would want more than one gallon to allow for better heat dispersion/dissipation and more room for agitation of blades.

I use 5 gallons.

The highest Rc numbers from regular/common knife steels we typically see would be around 67 Rc. I think these numbers are typically seen in the steels with higher carbon contents such as w2, 52100, 1095, w1 etc..

I see nothing in that chemistry of 1074 that would allow it to hit 74 Rc but I'm no expert on the subject.
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Austin Thrasher said:
Should I be warming my oil up any? I’d like to figure out a good way to consistently heat the oil other than just dunking some hot steel in it if it is necessary to be warming it. Thanks fellas.
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Austin - Here are a couple of ideas for warming your oil. 1) Old crock pot 2) Old stand up coffee maker

You can probably find one for under $5. I am on the hunt for a coffee maker in a larger than normal size (3-5 gallons). I saw this idea and thought, that should work really well to store and heat my oil for hardening blades.
 
Austin Thrasher said:
Yessir, I surface ground both sides of it.
Ok, I was wondering about that. It seemed like it was high but I didn’t know. I’m now questioning the calibration of the Rockwell tester at work lol.
Ok. Is one gallon enough? I’ll have to have a smaller quench tank and I often HT more than one knife at a time. Will one gallon heat up to fast?
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If your Rockwell tester at work, is like my Rockwell tester at work, you'll need to dial it in Every. Single. Time. :)

I really don't what people have against shop equipment, but they're never nice to it.
 
tkroenlein said:
If your Rockwell tester at work, is like my Rockwell tester at work, you'll need to dial it in Every. Single. Time. :)

I really don't what people have against shop equipment, but they're never nice to it.
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That was my experience where I used to work. I didn't do any hardness testing myself with their equipment, but the QA guy tested a couple knives when I still worked there. He always re-calibrated.

You might also get different readings on different parts of the steel.
 
Dennis Morland said:
Austin - Here are a couple of ideas for warming your oil. 1) Old crock pot 2) Old stand up coffee maker

You can probably find one for under $5. I am on the hunt for a coffee maker in a larger than normal size (3-5 gallons). I saw this idea and thought, that should work really well to store and heat my oil for hardening blades.
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Brilliant idea. I was offered a 4 or 5 gallon food warmer by a lady at our church and I turned it down. I’m gonna see if it’s still available. That would be perfect paired with a thermometer.
 
Looks like that is probably the case here. Let time it was calibrated was October last year. Not scheduled to be done again until October this year. Also, this certainly isn’t the one that’s locked up in the QC lab. It’s right out in the open and everyone uses it, and yes John, the people using it do not care.
tkroenlein said:
If your Rockwell tester at work, is like my Rockwell tester at work, you'll need to dial it in Every. Single. Time. :)

I really don't what people have against shop equipment, but they're never nice to it.
Click to expand...
 
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