Brad Lilly
Moderator and Awards Boss
I'm out yesterday trying to heat treat a 5160 blade. My normal procedure is to normalize the blade three times then heat to 1500 and quench. Between the normalizing cycles I hold the blade because everything in my unheated shop is below zero degrees. The blade cools off really quickly. Would the blade be getting slightly hard during the normalizing cycles?
Another thought crossed my mind. I want to harden some D2 but I don't have any quench plates. Instead of quench plated would setting the D2 blade on my anvil that is zero degrees do the same thing. I have another block of mild steel 16"x4"x3" to set on top if needed.
I know that zero degrees is not a huge drop from room temperature when dealing with 1500 degrees but my quench oil works better when heated to room temperature. Just a few thoughts for you guys to hash over.
Another thought crossed my mind. I want to harden some D2 but I don't have any quench plates. Instead of quench plated would setting the D2 blade on my anvil that is zero degrees do the same thing. I have another block of mild steel 16"x4"x3" to set on top if needed.
I know that zero degrees is not a huge drop from room temperature when dealing with 1500 degrees but my quench oil works better when heated to room temperature. Just a few thoughts for you guys to hash over.