Thread: 01 Steel.

I heat treat, successfully, O1 and 1095 with a small propane forge, a magnet, and a bucket of used McDonalds fry oil. Don't think that qualifies as "a lot of equipment. Just saying.

Originally Posted by JDM61

Actually, 1095 is not that easy to heat treat without a lot of equipment. A eutectoid steel like GOOD QUALITY 1084 will be relatively easy to HT.

Depends how you define "successfully" unless you have very precise temperature control and can soak your O1 for say 20 minutes, you are leaving a lot of performance on the table. Ditto for quenching 1095 in fryolator oil. Good 1095 quenched in a proper quench will give you 67 Rc out of the quench.

Originally Posted by skipnord

I heat treat, successfully, O1 and 1095 with a small propane forge, a magnet, and a bucket of used McDonalds fry oil. Don't think that qualifies as "a lot of equipment. Just saying.

One of the things you learn very quickly when you hang around with knife and razor makers, is that if you ask 10 of them to tell you how to heat treat any steel, you will get at least 15 answers that are prefaced as "the only right way to do it." Unless their name is Mike Blue, I take what they say with a grain of salt. No offense intended. Or taken.

Originally Posted by JDM61

Depends how you define "successfully" unless you have very precise temperature control and can soak your O1 for say 20 minutes, you are leaving a lot of performance on the table. Ditto for quenching 1095 in fryolator oil. Good 1095 quenched in a proper quench will give you 67 Rc out of the quench.

If you hear me say something about HT, it will typically be me repeating what I have heard from guys like Kevin Cashen, Roman Landes, etc. and tried, with the exception of salt baths which scare me and would probably scare my landlord too. I personally don't have any proprietary HT formulas nor do I claim to know the only way to HT stuff.. What I do have is my first couple of years messing stuff up before I bought my Paragon oven and 5 gallons of Parks #50. LOL. I have heat treated W2 in a black iron muffle pipe in my forge with a thermocouple and that was after a couple of years of doing it without that kind of control. Suffice to say that while my stuff turned out okay, it is much better since I got the gear.

Originally Posted by skipnord

One of the things you learn very quickly when you hang around with knife and razor makers, is that if you ask 10 of them to tell you how to heat treat any steel, you will get at least 15 answers that are prefaced as "the only right way to do it." Unless their name is Mike Blue, I take what they say with a grain of salt. No offense intended. Or taken.

67 is ridiculously hard. Much too hard on a razor.

Originally Posted by skipnord

I heat treat, successfully, O1 and 1095 with a small propane forge, a magnet, and a bucket of used McDonalds fry oil. Don't think that qualifies as "a lot of equipment. Just saying.

I agree, you don't have to have fancy equipment to turn out quality razors, you just have to know your equipment.

Originally Posted by Bruno

67 is ridiculously hard. Much too hard on a razor.

I didn't say that you leave it there. LOL. 62-63 is typically good for a kitchen knife and I would never leave a steel like that under 60 unless I was making a splitting maul. I use W2 instead of 1095, so I get some added benefits. What do you consider the ideal hardness for a razor using some common steels? This is brand new for me, so I am working with info from other fields of endeavor and know that each has its requirements.

As I said on the other thread about the Craftsman grinder, that is certainly true, sir!!!

Originally Posted by shooter74743

I agree, you don't have to have fancy equipment to turn out quality razors, you just have to know your equipment.

61 is generally considered the sweet spot. Much harder, and it will be difficult to hone.
Honing always needs to be considered, and if you go above 62, it becomes much more difficult to put a decent edge on it.

One thing that trips up many knifemakers, including many that do find their way over here, is they usually think that a razor is just a different shape of knife. Noy many knifemakers stay around because getting objective criticism is not compatible with their worldview. The most common mistake for example is making razors that are way too thin.

Anyway, in terms of hardness: 60 +- 1 is the norm. 58 and 59 are doable and many old sheffields are in that range. 62 is doable as well. Less or more becomes problematic one way or the other.

A lot of knife makers get abused elsewhere I plan the to chart the course where I watch, ask questions. listen to the answers and learn from you guys for a while before I attempt to embarrass myself publicly. 60-61 is good news because that actually says that you can try a number go really good steels. I need to find out more about the "too thin" thing.

Originally Posted by Bruno

61 is generally considered the sweet spot. Much harder, and it will be difficult to hone.
Honing always needs to be considered, and if you go above 62, it becomes much more difficult to put a decent edge on it.

One thing that trips up many knifemakers, including many that do find their way over here, is they usually think that a razor is just a different shape of knife. Noy many knifemakers stay around because getting objective criticism is not compatible with their worldview. The most common mistake for example is making razors that are way too thin.

Anyway, in terms of hardness: 60 +- 1 is the norm. 58 and 59 are doable and many old sheffields are in that range. 62 is doable as well. Less or more becomes problematic one way or the other.