Well This Is Weird

Well here’s the etch. Maybe some white out toward the tip but the rest of it looks uniform to me. What do you think tkroelein?
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What is causing the white spots at the tip and back near the plunge line?

Its either decarb or some cleaner or something left on the blade.
 
J. Doyle said:
What is causing the white spots at the tip and back near the plunge line?

Its either decarb or some cleaner or something left on the blade.
Click to expand...
Hi John. Not really sure about the spots. Think I just gonna finish it and keep it around the shop. I think my problems were a little too much heat and a little too much soak. The next one I’m thinking I’ll take to 1425 without any soak time. What do you think?
 
Randy Lucius said:
Hi John. Not really sure about the spots. Think I just gonna finish it and keep it around the shop. I think my problems were a little too much heat and a little too much soak. The next one I’m thinking I’ll take to 1425 without any soak time. What do you think?
Click to expand...


Not a hard and fast rule but more of a general guideline.....if there's a varying range in a steel's austenitizing temps and a varying range of soak times, you could approach it like this:

If you use the higher end of the austenitizing temp range you could decrease the soak time. Conversely, you could choose the lower end of the austenitizing range and increase the soak time.

So according to that generalization, going on the low end of the temp range with zero soak *might* not be adequate for full solution and full hardening. (If everything went perfect and your temps were accurate and the blade was fully up to temp internally, you'd *probably* be okay with 1084).

Were it me and using 1084, I'd probably personally shoot for 1450 and soak for not more than 5 minutes. That would be hot enough, but gives you a pretty good cushion against overheating. The short soak makes sure everything has time to reach full solution but won't do any harm at that temp.
 
J. Doyle said:
Not a hard and fast rule but more of a general guideline.....if there's a varying range in a steel's austenitizing temps and a varying range of soak times, you could approach it like this:

If you use the higher end of the austenitizing temp range you could decrease the soak time. Conversely, you could choose the lower end of the austenitizing range and increase the soak time.

So according to that generalization, going on the low end of the temp range with zero soak *might* not be adequate for full solution and full hardening. (If everything went perfect and your temps were accurate and the blade was fully up to temp internally, you'd *probably* be okay with 1084).

Were it me and using 1084, I'd probably personally shoot for 1450 and soak for not more than 5 minutes. That would be hot enough, but gives you a pretty good cushion against overheating. The short soak makes sure everything has time to reach full solution but won't do any harm at that temp.
Click to expand...
Thanks John. That makes a lot of sense.
 
I get light grey flecks under the black quite often, to me it looks perfect. That's when I know I've done everything right. But I never soak for fifteen minutes. That's a recommendation for steel parts in general (I suspect) not for thin knife blades. We only soak that long or longer to get good welds in powder metal damascus.
 
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