Heat Treat Question

S

silverjay

Guest
I just finished heat treating my second knife and I don't understand the color pattern in the cooled knife. The first knife was A-2 and had a rainbow pattern down the middle of the tang and blade where I rolled and crimped the foil. On the second pass with 154CM I made the pouch different and left the crimpes edge off to the side with space to the knife and this one had a rainbow pattern alond the cutting edge of the blade and tang that was 1/2 - 3/4" with the balance left darkened but un-colored. What does this mean?
 
Nothing to realy worry about. It does that sometimes and sometimes it does not. Depending no the atmosphere you get differant colors.
 
I find that the areas of the knife in solid contact with the foil will tend to be somewhat more uniform in color, whereas the areas where the blade bevel tapers away from the foil get a rainbow from exposure to what little air is in the packet.

However, even this can vary, and like Rusty said, it's nothing to worry about. The rainbow is just surface oxidation coloring.

--nathan
 
Soak at 1200 and 1400, 45 minutes at 1800. Double temper at 500. According to the data sheet this should maximize the toughness and have a hardness of ~60.
 
How are you cooling the blades? I am just using a fan. Do you plate quench?
 
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