Thread: Too much of a good thing: choosing the right steel

I think people overcomplicate things sometimes. I go for a color between dull red and dull orange and hold it there for a minute or 2, depending on thickness. Then quench in maize oil. Maize, because that was the cheapest.

This works for O1 and 52100. I realize that this way, I cannot say whether the hardness is going to be 60 or 61, but from a practical pov, who cares? The test I did last weekend proves that this method leads to hardness and toughness that is incredible for 52100, despite the simple heat treatment.

That's good to hear. I've got a bowie sized laminated billet (core steel 52100 and outer layers out of Harley Davidson Damascus) sitting in my closet that I've been affraid to touch for about 2 years now.

Planning on getting to that piece sometime soon though and making a nice BIG knife for myself out of it.

52100 is a fickle mistress. Not so bad if you're only grinding out a blade, but forging this stuff requires attention to temperatures or grain growth will become a problem that is more difficult to solve than with simple methods or simpler steels. Thermal cycling to reset this steel takes a long time. This is more or less true for all chromium containing steels as the chromium wants to form strong large carbides and it requires higher than normal temperatures (or really good thermal controls) to avoid the problem. Usually that also means more money spent on the technical control side of heat.