Why Knife Makers Should Break Their Knives
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 12 фев 2019
- Why Knife Makers Should Break Their Knives. A journey into heat treating 1095. In this video I talk about heat treating and its affects it can have on a finished knife. Bad heat treatments do exist and good heat treating may not be as simple as following a specific set of times and temperatures. Not all ovens are created equal and not all forges heat the same. Testing your own knives with your specific heat treating recipe is super important. And this goes for any steel type you may choose to use in your knife making.
This is also why its important to use the correct kind of steel for your heating treating operation. I wouldn't not choose 1095 for any kind of knife making purpose if I didn't have an oven to heat treat it.
Soaking at temperature in a forge is just not possible unless you have some way of knowing the temperature in the forge. Steel color can change due to lighting conditions. And even experienced knife makers cant tell exact temperatures by color.
If you are a beginning knife maker dont let this video discourage you though. Get some 1080/1084 steel, heat to non magnetic and a little more, then quench. DONE. No need to soak to get full benefit.
About⬇️
Hi, Im Alex, im a knife maker and RUclipsr, based out of southern Pennsylvania and my youtube channel is Outdoors55. This channel started as an outdoor backpacking channel, but quickly grew into a knife/ knife making channel. Everything I do on my channel is family friendly. I primarily focus on knife / knife making videos but occasionally throw in something different. Thank you for watching!😀
#knifemaking #knife #knifemaker #outdoors55
Knife Sharpening stuff I recommend ⬇️
amzn.to/2CnyFjl
amzn.to/2ETD3rN
GREAT BEGINNER SHARPENING STONES For Mirror polish⬇️
(usa) amzn.to/2SOCy9r
amzn.to/2PDqjOs
amzn.to/2PGfbQV
(canada) amzn.to/2AN5J67
amzn.to/2PKaTYA
amzn.to/2JFiBOd
(uk) amzn.to/2AMPB4o
amzn.to/2AM4kg2
Cheaper stones I use all the time⬇️
amzn.to/2EPU2vh
amzn.to/2Cmk1IW
amzn.to/2CkQlMz
Folding knives I recommend
Best value for the money⬇️
amzn.to/2lTFEcX love this knife!
Favorite knife as of now⬇️
amzn.to/2lQfE23
Best cheap fixed blade⬇️
amzn.to/2CND28e
Camera gear⬇️
Main camera amzn.to/2CAnaIA
other camera amzn.to/2CjteBP
Mic amzn.to/2CmZOmj
Other mic amzn.to/2ERSPUq
tripod I don't recommend but here it is anyway amzn.to/2COGboo
Action camera amzn.to/2JFoE5u
These are amazon affiliate links. 
Хобби
![Eminem - The Death of Slim Shady [Graveyard Album Trailer]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vOJD-6vQpXU/mqdefault.jpg)
Good work. The heat treat conclusion is correct. However, you are misinterpreting what you are observing. You are not looking at the grain structure. You are looking at different types of failure modes. In a brittle fracture, a crack forms and cleaves through the material, leaving a smooth finish. In a ductile fracture, the material distorts and "necks down". This simultaneously creates a rougher looking surface and simultaneously the effective cross-section is reduced. Eventually, the cross section is reduced enough that tensile strength is exceeded. When that occurs crack forms, the crack quickly propagates through the material and the knife breaks. Part of the fractured surface will be rough and a part will be smooth.
You can tell all about your heat treat process by simply looking at the fractured surface and estimating the ratio of ductile to the brittle fractured surface.
As a side note, the ideal condition would be for the cutting edge to be hard (but not "brittle") and for the back to be more ductile. That would create a knife that would both hold an edge and not snap under heavy loading.
To observe the grain structure, you would need to cut polish the surface until it was mirror-like. You would also need a microscope. Sometimes you need polarized light and an etchant to cause the boundaries to "pop" out.
In any case, good job.
This guy forges
Do you teach? 😅
@@gamer.004 No, I did research in fracture mechanics.
Ductile definitely isn't the word you meant. Also, you wouldn't necessarily want a brittle edge. It doesn't matter too much how tough it is, but a higher toughness means you can repair it more easily. Brittle or tough, the priority should be making the edge strong and hard
@@goodguykonrad3701 You are correct. I did not think this lay audience would be interested in the technical definition of toughness: The area under the stress strain-curve or the ability to absorb energy before fracture. I simplified the description to a ductile-brittle analogy. For a specific heat-treated steel, the more ductile heat treat is almost always tougher than the more brittle heat treat.
I just came across this. It is a better explanation than mine. www.materials.unsw.edu.au/tutorials/online-tutorials/2-cup-and-cone-fracture#img
- Any idea on how to succinctly explain toughness to this audience?
10/10 for going over and above what any normal human could ever be expected to do , so it's a gold star from me .
Kinda. I mean, lots of valuable effort, I love that he did this, I agree on that part.
But plenty of research students all over the world are expected to put similar effort into their respective fields of study to earn whatever degree their aspiring to get. The difference is, he did this out of pure interest, which makes it even cooler. If he continues he might get enough data out of this to write a scientific paper.
Also the idea that this is far beyond what any normal human could ever be expected to do I feel is a terrible statement and reinforces the reduction of work ethic for quality we see. What we expect these days sure. I do love though that he dov down into trying to figure out what was happening.
@@ruolbu Not really. In material science, the things that he has looked at are pretty much common knowledge. My respect towards him putting in the effort but nothing he has done is new or groundbreaking. If he knew where to search, he could have read this in some very old books (or of course more modern literature).
The fact that you believe this is so far above what a human could ever be expected to do just shows how little you strive for.
@@shawnpitman876 OK Shawn the irony of your statement is my 10/10 was my support in a positive light . While your poo-pooing , reflects in your 5 subs and zero , yes that's right zero content , yet you feel the need to poo-poo others , telling us just how little i strive for with your zero content channel .
even car makers crash their cars. this is common sense
Even Samurais who live by the sword, die by the sword. Oh wait, that's Seppuku.
Weaboo
xD
@@blackflamelvl2007 u wrote sudoku wrong
What about dildo makers?
Oil temp is probably playing a role here. If you want to know for sure, do the same test and use 5 different buckets of oil.
this was my first thought also
or different types of oils because on this depends how quick will metal cool off, thats why we dont use water all time for this
Can you use lard instead?
The warming the oil, the more malleable the blade.
The colder the oil, the harder the blade, but also more brittle.
Oil temp is probably not making a difference
Dear Outdoors55,
I love your investigative nature and believe that you are following the right tests to ensure the quality of your knives!
I'm from Germany and am currently in my second semester of my "Ausbildung" (sort of a vocational training) that specializes in metallography, so eesentially the analysis of grain structures, impurities and the likes in metals. Now I'm by far not an expert yet, nor will I be for a long time but it is channels like yours and other creators that pushed me to pursue this career and it has been nothing but rewarding!
I've talked about heat treatment with one of my teachers, since I'm so fanatical about knives, and according to her about two or three normalizing cycles at about 30-50°C (I think thats about 90°F to about 120°F) under quenching temperature, followed my multiple quenches (without tempering in between!) ensures a really fine grain structure and positively affects toughness whilst not affecting the final hardness after tempering. Also driving the temperature differential up is really beneficial (cryogenic treatment after the last quench), as that temperature difference allows for a stronger setting in the crystalline lattice and by thermal compression allows for 'clearer' boundaries.
Then after all that and tempering you should be rewarded by a really great performing knive.
Thanks a lot for your content and greetings from Germany !
edit : sorry for the long comment ;)
Multiple quenching is something that has been done in knife making for a long time. I forget who was the first to really put it into practice. From the knife research ive done it seems to be the best way to get a very fine grain. It will definitely something ill do in the future. Maybe a follow up to this video. Thanks for the input!! It definitely intrigues me more😂 im also wondering if more normalization cycles slightly under quenching temperature would refine grain even further without multiple quenching. Seems some people swear by it. Thanks again 👍👍
@@OUTDOORS55 I think you can refine the grain a lot but don't forget that if you go to far on the refining it gets harder and harder to fully harden the steel.
Hallo in welchem Beruf machst du deine Ausbildung?
@@evias9943 Der Beruf heißt Technischer Assistent für Metallographie und Werkstoffanalyse und wird nur in Berlin und Solingen angeboten, meine mache ich im Lette Verein Berlin
magst du meine messer härten? :D
I heat treat 1095 at 1485 in my evenheat oven. I put blades in cool and let them heat with the oven. Once they hit 1475 I start the timer and soak for 10 min. and quench in 5 gallons of parks 50. When I do multiple blades I make sure each blade comes back up to 1485 before quenching. Remember when you open that door temp drops quickly. I have not noticed any grain change between 8 and 15 min soak time as long as I allow each subsequent blade to get back to 1485. I usually heat treat 6 blades at a time. I also keep the blade vertical in the quench and do not swish it side to side only up and down. I notice less warpage also I hang them from a hook to cool to room temp before temper. don't lay a warm blade on a bench or piece of metal I have noticed this warp a blade. I have not put a cold blade into an already hot oven not sure if that has an affect
This is functionally identical to my process. Do we know if he is quenching in parks or is he using canola?
I love you don't mind destroying things you made to make sure they are up to snuff. No one should have any reservations buying any knife you make. Great channel. Keep it up.
Thank you for making these videos. Your hard work and explanation on this subject matter is much appreciated. Thanks again
Love your channel. I’ve learned so much from you. I’m compiling a list of materials to start my first blade.
it was very cool to be able to SEE what everyone is always TALKING about. awesome!
Nice job showing what diligent knife makers go through to understand the steels they decide to work with. Tested my share, still do, just to make the processes are still valid.
Bravo! Absolutely fantastic video! I can't wait to see what you have in store! Thank you for all this information!
fascinating, this is why I love youtube, getting recommended very interesting channels.
I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to do all this and sharing it. It was a very informative video!
Thanks! It was a necessary evil so I might as well film it🤷♂️ Thanks for watching my friend!
Do not beat yourself up over testing mistakes. You are doing things that help the rest of us and identifying your mistakes. This is the proper method. Keep it up. Informative and enjoyable
The seriousness take, and the clarity of steps throughout makes this a fantastic work.
Well don, on looking at every aspect you could, and showing the results.
Very informative video, thanks for opening my eyes to the Variations that can occur! the first thing I'll do now once I get my own forge going is to go through different steel samples and try to find the optimal heat treatment cycle for my work!
I really liked this video you showed that you take real pride in your work
a few books on metals and heat treating would have helped you
but what you did is impressive and educational
Great video.
Im subbed because you explain things very well and cover all the things that need covered.
The fact you picked up on your time issues at the end of the video just reinforces how serious you are about covering all your bases.
Easy sub.
Highly recommended.
Thanks for the sub my friend🙏
Question. Would the elevating oil temp throughout the process of quenching cause the steel to cool slower and allow for larger grain size?
Curtis Barkes I was thinking the same thing I’m sure it could play a fairly large role in the results
No, oil temperatures were monitored throughout the testing. 110 for the low and 155 for the high👍
@@OUTDOORS55 right on
if anything, hotter oil would be more fluid and cause the steel to cool faster.
@@Jiminycroquet never heard that.
I love your videos! Really helpful. I didnt know you make knifes, too. Beautiful.
Big science in a little shop, BRILLIANT. Thanks, and I’m in.
I am very impressed. I love the extra you go to to improve your own knowledge in knife making. Keep up the excellent work man. You are doing great!
I am not even a beginner. I've never made a knife. I'm finding your videos informative (as much as I can understand). I assume this test proves that a very fine even grain is desirable. Even though you never really came right out and said that. I want to make a FOREVER knife for bush craft. I don't know what steel to use, how to treat that steel - heat treatment, quenching, annealing etc. or even the order in which to do this. I'm 65 years old and retired so my definition of a Forever knife is a knife my grandson can have and use once I'm gone. About all I do know is I want it to be a full tang and the back side of the blade should take a little bit of a beating from a hatchet maybe 3/16 inch wide. While splitting small kindling. I want it to be about 8 inches of usable blade (probably more like 10 inches long with enough left over to go the full length of the knife handle. I want it to take an edge I can shave with and hold that edge for a reasonable amount of time. I'm learning sharpening and stropping and general care for a knife in the meanwhile but no where near the skill level to produce what I want. For me your videos might be a little to far advanced but if you spoke like you were talking to an idiot it would make it easier for me. I don't really expect you to do that because I think you'd lose a lot of your viewers. Lol. Can you direct me (or any of your other viewers as well) towards any of your videos that would help me. I like your style of making videos and prefer if I could stay with you. Does anyone think I'm crazy? Is this a knife I can make - or is it like a Holy Grail. I definitely don't want to buy a knife like this I want to make it. I have access to most every type of tool I think I would need and am even considering purchasing what I need if I don't already have it. For instance a 2" wide belt sander (I presently have a 4 inch wide) Would a 1" wide work? What's better one inch or 2 inch - do I need both? Thanks for reading this tome of a comment and I gratefully thank any help anyone can provide. I live in Allen County, Ohio if there is anyone near me with these skills who would allow me to have lunch with them and shoot the breeze let me know. Even better a chance to see your shop and set up. Lunch is on me.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing this information Alex. I hope the channel doesn’t change too much. I kinda like it the way it is. Keep up the great work my friend. 👍🏼
Maybe some new faces and a new location 🙂
Great video Alex, I'm glad you talk about this subject because heat treatment is what makes a knife good imo.
I studied metallurgy last year and what you say is true. Soaking time increases grain size for simple carbon steels. Alloyed steels can sometimes reduce their grains with soaking time. And the higher you go beyond the critical temperature, the bigger the grain.
What I would love to see is the grain structure difference between a forged blade and a stock removal blade. I have no idea about the result...😅
This is your first video I saw and what can I say, you earned my sub right away :)
Fantastic. Thank you. Keep up the good work.
I subbed man, I love these tests
Keep it up
Wow! Lots of time and expense went into this! Thanks for sharing! Can't wait to hear about the "big news" for your channel.
Great experiment about metals and heat treating.
Great video as normal. Very helpful and interesting.... keep up the great vids.
Very thorough - thanks for sharing this 👍🏼
very cool metallurgy demo thanks for sharing learned a lot
I love how methodical you were.
Interesting! Really enjoy these type of videos :D
Awesome info!! Now I’m going to have to do a bunch of testing myself. I’ve done destructive tests on knives and it always makes me cringe to put all that work in just to break the thing in half but i think its a very important step for anyone wanting to ensure quality. Thanks again this video was the most informative heat treating I’ve seen on youtube particularly of interest to me because i use a lot of 1095.
Thanks my friend! I agree its a necessary evil. 👍
@@OUTDOORS55 Were do you get your stainless steel foil for keeping the O2 out of the "Quenching"? Think it will work with a atmosphere propane forge or and forced air propane forge? I can run them rich so that I greatly reduce the O2 but was thinking that adding the foil might save me even more addition Carbon content. Thoughts?
I’m about to heat treat a O1 dagger/chopper and this information is actually really helpful. I was getting a little stressed trying to find a good soak time lol
O1 will de different than 1095. O1 is more resilient to soaking issues.
The 800 is for 1095 the austenite phase transformation limit, generally you should soak up to 30 minutes for the steel to fully transform to austenite at that temp. This transformation is not fast at all. But huge chunky austenite does not imply huge chuncky martensite, as the quenching is a powerful phase transformation that restructures the whole steel.. I think you are not getting full austenite in your piece and that results in less martensite transformation and more of those nice chuncky grains of perlite (maybe). Going up with temp would ensure full austenite transformation and thus a full quench and less chunkiness.
As to why 5 minutes soak making smaller grains is that again you are having some austenite transformation but mainly pearlite which keeps growing until austenitisation. So with time you get bigger grains of pearlite back, but less of total.
Anyway do a 30 minute soak and you should get the best result.
“I put my ENTIRE 150lbs on them” 🤣🤣 Great video man. I am really enjoying your strength test videos. Being a total amateur knife maker, JUST getting in to the hobby, these have been very helpful.
Great info! Thanks for sharing.
And they say you dont know what you are doing. Well done and very informative!
Great dedication to the craft. However, you're not actually looking at grain size. You're looking at fracture surfaces, which generally occur along grain boundaries. To look at grain size, you must polish the sample, apply an etchant, and view under a microscope. Also, a factor that's missing here is the hardness. It's very likely the pieces that were not soaked 5 minutes or more did not reach full hardness capability, which defeats the purpose of a high carbon steel knife. If you're not soaking it adequately to achieve the steel's potential, grain size doesn't really matter. there's a point of diminishing return where ultra fine grain becomes a problem as you lose hardness. I got on the grain size merry go round a while ago too but then I got off after I learned a little more... :)
Theres a lot of factors missing here that i cant necessarily test with my limited equipment. All of the pieces however were saoked minimum of 5 minutes. Theres still a possibility that full hardness wasnt reached. I dont have a hardness tester so i dont know for sure. Thanks for the comment 👍
Wow, I remember a couple yrs. ago telling you that you would be a great knife maker,with your knowledge of knives and your enthusiasm. That was a understatement !!! Ive gotta go back and review what Ive missed. 👍
Haha thanks! Im learning for sure!
@@OUTDOORS55 I'm totally impressed, you've made some really good knives !!!
Good work buddy.... helped me a lot!
Very interesting video...
Thank you for all the work and effort...
Good video, the art of forging. Murray Carter also explains this well in one of his videos.
I like this. We always learn new things when we experiment.
Wow that's clear as mud. However; my brother and nephew normalize for about as long as it takes to get to tempature, for three cycles and then quench. I'm sure your conclusions are correct about over temp and soak times. Thanks I your videos are a great source of info.
Excellent practice to record as much data as possible for times like this. Especially something like heat treatment with so many variables.
I think a recall is in order, to be on the safe side ;)
Just a thought from having a Kiln and modifying it. I used to put in my blades into cold kiln and fire it up with them in the whole time up to 1475. Then I would get lots of decarb. Then I would let it get up to temp (1475) put it the blade let it rebound and time it from the time it got back up to 1475. Now since I slit a hole in my front door I let it get to temp wait 10 minutes then slide them in the slit for 5 minutes.From what I have seen in my testing is the first way is bad because I was putting it the whole time while the kiln was getting hot while the coils are set to max heat or as fast as possible on my kiln which I think is hotter than 1475 that causes grain growth. The second way was not as good because the rebound time can be long and cause grain growth. The last way seems the best with the finest grain I think because when I stick it through the slit without opening the door temp drops a tiny bit and rebounds in almost no time. Check out my last video to see what I mean about the kiln mod. The sweet spot seems to be 5 minute soak time from my testing. I hope you understand my ramblings lol. Also I use parks 50 but with a 7 gallon tank and I have not noticed a difference with oil temp.
Thats interesting info! I was thinking that the ramping up to temp might have something to do with it but wasn't sure. I loose about 50 degrees (if im fast) each time to door opens. And it takes about 5 minutes to ramp back up. I suppose that could have caused the last blade to over heat. I've even thought about over heating the oven 50 degrees over temperature so that when the blade goes in it drops back down to where it's supposed to be. Thanks for the info 👍
Actually putting it in cold is the best way, but if you're concerned about the coils affecting the blade, put it in a tube to shield it so the tube is absorbing the temperature fluctuation.
Your work space is dope.
Also, love your vids man keep it up, I just subscribed.
I'm proud of you,,,it seems you are on the right path,,,thanks for sharing the details.
I would love to get as involved into knife making as you are now. At the moment I just make a blade, heat treat until it gets to the color I think it should be and then I quench immediately lol. My edge retention is impressive in my opinion considering I've dulled store bought knives a lot faster than my own. I've also never broke one of my own blade (on accident). Hopefully some day I can get a set up similar to yours! Great video as always
Yeah this is going in depth (at least for me). Any of these pieces or knives would have made great blades for the most part. They just wouldn't be as good as they could be🙂 Thanks my friend!
Great experiment..helped me alot
Nice job! Thanks.
Very informative. thanks.
if you want the grain structure to show up better on camera, keep using your good lighting, but in video processing, turn up contrast, and down brightness. great video!
Dude...your graphic at 16:21 broke my eyes - lol...speaking of which - please please please consider protecting yours when breaking blades...your awesome approach was the most mellow of mad scientists...👍👍
Have you considered that (concerning the three initial blades) that the third was quenched after 2 rapid succession "openings" of your H.T. oven. I wonder if you may have significantly dropped the temp off the third knife from heat loss due to the openings/exposure to ambient temperature. Possibly your thermocouple is placed in a bad spot to get accurate temps. I would suggest possibly doing a test of temp loss or general atmospheric condition changes in your oven due to opening it.
When you open the oven the temp drops, just like a crockpot or household oven. Try recording sample temps with a pyrometer as you pull parts out and see how much the temperature drops from the first sample to the last.
This is valuable information and testing you have done here. Doesn't metal stockists carry data sheets on there websites for ideal temp etc?
I used to work for a stress relief company. Heat Treating different types of Steel, we used to start at an ambient temperature and then slowly heat the product to whatever temperature that particular Steel calls for, then there is a soak time again different for each type of Steel. After that we would slowly bring down the temperature over an extended period Of time . very technical and each type of Steel requires completely different heat treating but it always starts from an ambient temperature and slowly Works its way to asoke temperature and then slowly Works its way back down to ambient temperature. All types of Steel , if you want them perfect they require this type of heat treatment.
This is not that.
Not sure how I ended up here but this was actually super informative
Valuable information.
Well gotta be said see I love green beetle, top stuff, Walter sorrel too dry, but you my friend really give so much useful information in a modern, and damn funny but hellish informative and interesting content. You clearly think so much about your content. Thankyou for your great efforts love your posts.
Thanks my friend!! 👊
You could make standardized cross sections of the test pieces for future tests and use a cheater bar that has a notch in a specific place along its length in which you could place a spring scale. Do so could allow you to gather some more data out of each test you make.
I think there may be a difference between soaking and bringing up to temp. Longer periods of time at the same temp would allow the steel to adjust to the current temp. Maybe try a test where you let one piece slowly get up to 1550 and then the other heat up in about half the time and let set at 1550. Say, If you can control your forge, piece one allow it take 10 mins to get up to 1550, quench. Piece to allow 5 mins to get up to 1550, soak for an additional 5 mins, quench.
Thank you, this is amazing
#1: Every knife should meet it's user's needs. Not all needs are the same. Rigidity is great when rigidity is needed, but leads to unwanted breaks. Flex is great for most knives and will fill the "sharp piece of metal" role that general use knives need. But they take plastic deformation. A flaw, but not a broken knife.
#2: Cut, polish and etch if you want to view grain structure bro!
Thanks for video!
I like your professional approach above and beyond to understanding the theoretical process going on. Have you spoken or put your results to any trained metallurgists ?
Very interesting video. Recently I've been reading all i can find on 1095, since i'm making a knife from it myself. And I came to the conclusion that there's not a lot of detailed info and what you find often contradicts each other. So video's like this are really great! I'm very curious about tempering temperatures of 1095 as well. From what i've read you can temper 1095 at 500°F to reach a hardness of 59-60 hrc, but most people seem to temper at lower temperatures for some reason. So in short I would really enjoy a video similar to this, but on the subject of tempering.
Keep up the great work!
cheers
You want to do a minimum of 2 but max of 5 "NORMALIZATION" cycles. Each one slightly cooler than the last before you go into phase 2 of heat treating. This is what will greatly reduce not just the grain structure but also greatly anneal and reduce the stress on the steel.
Suggest you drill holes and bevels at this stage.
Phase two is "QUENCHING" the Metal (Specifically simple carbon steel 1045(0.45%carbon)-1095(0.95%carbon)). This Phase you heat the metal to just above Magnetic Critical(Metal loses Magnetic properties becoming non-magnetic). This means the Atoms are free floating mixing with the Carbon. When you quench(rapid cool) the steel from above Magnetic Critical it forces the Iron atoms to constrict extremely fast trapping the Carbon atoms in-between the Iron atoms. This is what causes a piece of steel to become hard. The faster you reduce the temperature and/or the more Carbon you have the harder the steel can become. However, you cannot use the steel in this form as it can be more brittle than a glass window. I have even seen steel shatter from the pressure of the Carbon in-between the Iron in as little as a hour from quenching When Just sitting on a wooden bench in 65°F 40% Humidity indoors under office like controlled environment. This is why you must move to Phase 3 of the Heat treating process as soon as you can!
Phase 3 is "TEMPERING". In this phase you must remove just enough of the pressure that has built up in the steel from the "QUENCHING" process that trapped all that Carbon in-between the Iron atoms. You do this by doing the "OPPOSITE" of Normalization. you must heat the metal again (Usually somewhere in the range of 375°F(190.6°C) to 450°F(232.2°C) for 2 to 4 cycles depending on how far you want to draw back the hardness to get the right balance of Ductility and Durability.
I like your reasoning and scientific approach. I took metallurgy to earn my associates of science for welding technology but remember very little except different boundaries and phases and they analyzed failures (yours being vise angular leverage failure) like you did with your pieces - to see what caused the failure . What I gathered from your experiment was that no matter your soak time or temp - NORMALIZING (CORRECTLY NORMALIZING, and soaking at critical temperature for 5 minutes is the B diggity G) is Mucho Grande Importante! You did great! but the camera to me showed a better grain the farther you went to the left - maybe cutting the pieces would show the grain structure better because breaking the pieces tends to disrupt the grain pattern/structure as it elongates and deforms the end pieces. Great Job and great lesson on the importance of normalizing 1095 and I am sure 1080 would bear similar results. Also testing metals you haven't used before and finding normalizing procedures and critical temps for each new material you use - of course writing down these notes in a knifemakers logbook for future use and less re-googling (is that regurgitation). You are an inspiration on the path to the knife making grotto! I have never made a knife but I should be qualified son with all the different videos I have watched - KEEP Making them!! I copied your pattern on my laptop screen enlarged - maybe I will be ordering 1080 next.
Very good video 👌
Nice work! I learned alot here. Whats your thoughts on quenching larger (2×3) carbon steel to be used as an anvil face?
Great content
As usual another fantastic video, am I the only one who really likes the scientific aspect of your videos even though they are much longer? It's so interesting. By the way Alex, you should try to find an inexpensive 4k camera, should help quite a lot more with noticing detail. P.S. Love the music at 11:15 lol.
I have a 4k camera (sony a6300) I was having focusing issues. My good lens is out for repair and had to use my beat up older lens. 🙁 sorry about that. Thanks my friend. I could have kept going with this and had to leave out a lot of stuff because it was just getting too long without an sort of resolve. 😀
Very interesting. I had a knife in chinesium that looked just like that when it broke. I would assume that the metal itself was not high grade, but also that when mass produced the blades just go through one heat treatment and causes the metal to be grainy overall.
Really interesting. I don’t have a fancy pants temp controlled oven so you just added a few more layers of doubt to my process 😁
Just kidding thanks for taking the time to present that info. Nice and honest as usual 👍
Looks like grain growth happens from length of time, I thought it just occurred from higher heat, what do you think of normalizing blades at quench temp? I was under the impression that soaking at dull cherry for long time was a good thing, I’ve read it shrinks grain structure. Thanks for doing this video, just subbed, keep it up!
Excelent video ! One question did you tried a soak period smaller than 5 minutes ? I would normally use only 2 minutes, but I do not work with 1095.
Great stuff as usual Alex, one question though, I know it may not even be something but would quenching multiple pieces like that in the same oil, in turn heat or over heat the oil? If so would that play a part as well?
Test the oil temp? You quenched sequentially for the first test, which increases the oil's temp, right?
He replied to another comment saying he monitored the temp. 110 low and 155 for the high.
check out he oil temps, soak time seems as important as quench temp. room temp oil cools the steel faster than oil that has temp raised after several quick succession quenches.
Great vid
What tempering cycle do you use for 1095? I’m new to knife making and have heat treated about 5 knives using 1095 steel. I have been tempering them 1 cycle at 400 degrees and have noticed them coming out of the oven with a blue almost purple color instead of a straw color. I’m not sure if I’m over tempering them or if this color is common or not. Any suggestions would help. I really enjoy watch your videos too!!!
hey alex great video, i was wondering could you possibly fix (weld) a knife that has been broken right in between the tang and heel of the blade or maybe you could fix the fine grain knife that you show in the video. love see you fix the blade or even a make tutorial for how to fix broken knives. thanks
Hmm Have you thought about the temperature of the oil you are quenching in ? Each time you quench a piece of steel in that same oil you are raising it's temperature and each peace that follows is quenched in hotter and hotter oil. Oil that's lets say 90 degrees Celsius will quench steel quicker than same oil at room temperature of 25 degrees even thou its hotter. Have a think about that ;)
Yeah, just a bunch of BS. Maybe if you want consistent metal work, use consistent procedures across the entire build cycle including the oil temp you are quenching at.
Thats what i was thinking... evertime he opens the door he will loose some heat aswell...
Isnt soak time different from a changing temperature? something sitting in the same temp would behave differently than something gaining heat and thus a different reaction right?
hey love your vids keep it up bro♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
I'm really enjoying your videos. Did you temper the three blades you broke at the beginning of the video?
Yep, all were tempered before breaking 🙂 Thanks my friend 👊
Very interesting experiment, I've at last understood what a steel quenching really effects in the texture of a blade: thank you, Alex! And now I wonder how ancient smiths did it from an archeological point of view... 🤔
Sorry i only have one thumbs up to give. Excellent scientific approach to experimenting with heat treatments. Also, very impressive to publish your successes and failures.
Very cool! I've broken and tested a few of my knives too and just recently started to use an electric forge. The results I get are satisfying. My oven ramps up very slowly and I put the knives in when the forge is still cold, let them soak fo 5 min at desired temp before quench. I wonder how much the ramp speed affects the grain.
I dont know, thats my thought as well.
Hey Alex what is the song on the video during the quenching period? Thanks in advance !
Could you please explain 'Soak Time' for me? I'm just starting to make knives and currently lack any experience. I also don't have a forge so I'm just using a handheld torch and an extendable magnet (I realize that this is far from the ideal setup).
Really enjoy your channel. For me it's become the knife making, Learning Channel.
haha same here😂 Thanks my friend!
Thank you!
What about getting a pocket microscope? Its about 20$ and u can magnify up to 100x. U really see the grainstructure with it :)