What is the easiest stainless steel to heat treat?

PetrifiedWood

Well-Known Member
I have an Evenheat kiln, so heating the steel to a fairly accurate temperature shouldn't be a problem.

But I don't have the funds to buy thick aluminum plates right now for plate quenching, or to arrange for cryo treating either. I can get dry ice if absolutely necessary, but liquid nitrogen would be really hard to come by in my small town.

Are there any stainless steels suitable for knife making that can be heat treated similar to the O1 I have been working with?

The reason I'm interested in this is that I recently got a blast cabinet to do surface prep on my knife tangs. Well, the finish it leaves is a really pleasing matte finish, but I also know that a high polished finish is more rust resistant than a matte finish. So I want to try a stainless blade with a nice blasted matte finish.
 
PetrifiedWood: you should try this question in the heat treating forum. I'm lucky my neighbor has the Evenheat kiln and we've done CPM 154 and 440C and several other stainless steels. We do plate quench and
others could advise as to whether that is really significant. I think fresh air quench is just as effective, but takes longer. I'm not sold on home cryo, but we use kerosene and dry ice.

By the way, I want to compliment you on all the progress you've made as a knife maker, since your first post, and the volume of work that you have completed, puts me to shame.
 
Plate quenching is probably over rated. Air hardening steels can easily be hardened with out plates. The plates became popular to keep warping down and to avoid screwing around with the foil pouch.

To air quench, get the steel out of the foil pouch immediately and then let it sit it calm air in a rack.
 
Don't discount oil quneching some of the stainless steels! Although it's not a "prescribed" method, nor widely accepted, I've been around long enough to remember a number of well known makers who exclusively oil quenched 440C, ATS-34, and a few others.....just as you would carbon steels. I recently was thinking about that, and tried oil quenching 13C26, and found I liked the results better than the prescribed air or plate quenching.
 
PetrifiedWood: you should try this question in the heat treating forum. I'm lucky my neighbor has the Evenheat kiln and we've done CPM 154 and 440C and several other stainless steels. We do plate quench and
others could advise as to whether that is really significant. I think fresh air quench is just as effective, but takes longer. I'm not sold on home cryo, but we use kerosene and dry ice.

By the way, I want to compliment you on all the progress you've made as a knife maker, since your first post, and the volume of work that you have completed, puts me to shame.

Thanks! I have tried to include new thing I learn into each new knife. And I really can't say it's that many knives since I started, maybe 7 or 8 if I remember right. It's good to know you are having success with 440C in an Evenheat.

Plate quenching is probably over rated. Air hardening steels can easily be hardened with out plates. The plates became popular to keep warping down and to avoid screwing around with the foil pouch.

To air quench, get the steel out of the foil pouch immediately and then let it sit it calm air in a rack.

I have been trying to figure out a way to get steel out of a pouch fast enough. I worry that I will miss the "nose" fumbling with the pouch. I have been heat treating my O1 without any anti-scale compound and it seems to be working out. But I haven't read up on stainless yet because I didn't think I'd be ready to try it so soon. (But here I am, anxious to give it a try!)

Don't discount oil quneching some of the stainless steels! Although it's not a "prescribed" method, nor widely accepted, I've been around long enough to remember a number of well known makers who exclusively oil quenched 440C, ATS-34, and a few others.....just as you would carbon steels. I recently was thinking about that, and tried oil quenching 13C26, and found I liked the results better than the prescribed air or plate quenching.

I suppose any quench that doesn't crack te steel and gets it cool fast enough will work. That might be worth a try.
 
I've hardened 3/16 440C in a 150 degree canola oil bath and it worked without any distortion I couldn't correct. The oil quench method has made a lot of good stainless knives over the years, and although cryo has proven benefits, I certainly don't focus on it.
 
Hay Pet'wood-- Boss & Ed told you like it is. It is not the commonly accepted way but makes a good blade.
Jerry
 
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