Thread: O1 heat treating problem

I'm with Charlie about tempering. Only one cycle is necessary and O-1 tops out for hardness at about 400F. I'd recommend finding and studying TTT diagrams like this one: (down this page a bit...) Carpenter O1

One of the variables mentioned by Bruno earlier was the time taken between the heat and the quench. His cooling fin example is accurate. This diagram shows that you have about 2 seconds to miss the nose of the curve to get into the martensite range of transformation. Do not dawdle from the fire to the quench...

As to colors for judging hardness, I like that color. I prefer a slightly less deep bronze color. Over time, with the help of a Rockwell hardness tester, my eye has learned to see colors with a fairly low error rate when estimating hardness. You are likely in the range that is good given the vagaries of color in photography/lighting. Once the bevel/honing settle down that should be a several generation shaver.

My advice is to put this razor in rotation and make another. The next one will dial in even closer. Perfection is a fickle mistress. It can suck the life from you and all your work will never be good enough. Anything more on this razor will likely screw it up and break your heart.

Mastery is NOT learning how to correct, or cover up, mistakes. Mastery is learning to avoid making them in the first place.