o1 heat treat at home - question

S

solvetek

New Member
I am making a wood carving knife for myself and this is my first homemade knife.
I want a thin blade and will use 1/16 thick o1.
I know that 10x is better than o1 for beginners but I got a very good deal on the o1 and could not find 10x in 1/16.
The blade geometry is as follows: 1/16 thick, 1.5 inches long, 1/3 inch wide.
Heat treat process
1) heat with two propane torches, one on each side of the blade.
2) test with magnet until the blade is non-magnetic.
3) Once the blade is non-magnetic I will soak or continue to heat for 3 minutes trying to keep the same color.
4) after the 3 minute soak dunk straight into a glass of canola oil heated to 125 degrees.
5) after it cools bake in oven at 400 degrees for one hour
question:
1) should I put a dull edge on the blade before I heat treat, I have read that the blade edge should not be two thin?
2) i used this url to calculate soak time - is minutes correct correct http://htsteel.blogspot.com/p/heat-treating-o1-tool-steel.html
3) does the heat treat process I am using sound reasonable?
 
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Not really,it may or may not work and there is no way to regulate the heat at the proper temp,it's kind of a waste as you won't get what you would get out of properly heat treated O1.You could easily send it out for heat treat.I would do it for you if you wanted to send it to me.I see a lot of backyard heat treating that would work fine on 5160 but not so good on tool steal and I think it's due to being misinformed or feeling like hay I don't know what else to do.
 
I agree with AKWildman here.

15n20 comes in 1/16" thicknesses and would be much more suited to your methods of heating. You won't get the most out of O1 the way you describe. 15n20 (which would heat treat almost identical to 1084) would make an as good and likely better blade with your process than the O1.
 
Ray Kirk has some 15n20 in .084 that makes nice knives. you should try a piece of it if you think the 1/16 is too thin.
 
1/16" would be plenty thick for an inch and a half blade. Heat treating as you described will give you a usable blade. You will not get the maximum benefits that 01 offers, but I doubt you would notice the difference for what it is intended to be used for. However, I would suggest just a little more heat than simply non-magnetic, but that may happen anyway while trying to maintain a 3 minute soak. Non-magnetic is just a temp indicator that tells you that you are at stage two of three in heat. The real target with 01 is 1475°, but you will not be able to eye that, so go about one shade of red beyond. Canola oil may be a tad fast for 01. Mineral oil, or ATF will lessen the chances of cracking. Apparently you already have the 01, so give a try. Then you will know if it is what you want.
 
I've made round knives out of O1 quenched in canola oil. The only difference in my procedure is I have a method of measuring and controlling my temperature. I used a 6 minute hold time on them.

I use 15N20 for my latest ones. Strap cutters are on the bench being finished now out of 15N20.

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This process will not do very well for this tool steel. Please do some more research, it is important to reach a specific temperature and hold that for a period of time before the quench, also you can rough grind the blade but i have seen many cracks in finished blades that were sharpened before heat treat. Micro cracking can happen and you wont even know it until you go and use the blade and it chips or breaks right away.
 
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