Thread: #3 goes down in a flame of glory.......

what mzde it brake
if all you did was drop it and the tang broke you might want ot temper a bit hotter to add some toughness

Originally Posted by L R Harner

what mzde it brake
if all you did was drop it and the tang broke you might want ot temper a bit hotter to add some toughness

While, I don't doubt I can improve on HT & tempering. I think part of it was just bad luck.
4' drop of concrete. Broke through jimps.
it's 1080 steel I tempered at 400 for an hour or so, then let cool and repeated 2 more times for a total of 3.
I'm open to all input, as I'm no pro and have no problem changing what I'm doing now.

Next time give it 425 for a couple hours or even 450. This becomes an experiment for finding the sweet spot for this particular batch of steel. If it's too soft after ward you can always heat treat it again.

That sucks when that happens. It haven't broken a razor yet but did loose a few by grinding to thin. I'd definitely listen to Mike's and Butch's advise. Good luck on the next.

Oh, I'll listen to about anybody that is knowledgeable on a subject.
I have no set method, so it's all a learning process.

I figured I would mess up a few, I thought it would have been from grinding, warping, crack, ect... Didn't really think it would be a slip out of my hand.
Maybe I'll head to the sporting goods store to buy some sticky wide receiver gloves...LOL

Brian, How many hours did you have in that blade? I really like the file work...

The blade was not tempered very well at all. You can see the grain in the metal at the brake. I have botched tempering jobs before, and that is the same result I got. If you had tempered it farther, it (1) wouldn't have broken, and (2) would have smaller grain-structure than that. But now you know what you did wrong, and maybe you won't do it again (if you are not like me, anyways...)

Yeah, but look at your #6...That's Phoenix rising out of the ashes . You will probably have many failures like this #3, and out of these ashes of the fallen will rise the next blade of beauty .

Thanks Robert,
I'm not to worried about braking/messing a razor up. It's going to happen at times. Just try and learn from the mistake and move on.

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

Next time give it 425 for a couple hours or even 450. This becomes an experiment for finding the sweet spot for this particular batch of steel. If it's too soft after ward you can always heat treat it again.

+1 on Mikes comment. He has a clue on this topic.
Heat treating is as much art as science so find ways
to practice even on rejects.

I would consider welding the two parts together, grind the
weld clean and heat treat the part from scratch. You might
need to recondition condition the steel for the weld to take....

I do love the file work and style of your design -- with
the right heat treatment you will have lots
of fans (and customers if you want them).

Someday a brave sole will make a stainless+carbon
TIG welded frame back that has the carbon steel temper
and hardness that I like on the edge and a stainless back, spine
and tail that takes almost no care yet looks like an OLD time
frame back...