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Heat Treating and Metallurgy Discussion of heat treatment and metallurgy in knife making.

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  #1  
Old 09-14-2009, 12:27 PM
cliff fendley cliff fendley is offline
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A2 heat treat recipe

I made some copper and brass rivet setters out of some A2 rod I had, what is the heat treat for A2. I don't think I want it knife blade hardness, just enough where the rivets don't deform it over time.


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  #2  
Old 09-14-2009, 10:20 PM
AcridSaint AcridSaint is offline
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Hi Cliff - here is what I have for A2 from Crucible:

Preheat 1100/1250F, equalize, 1350/1450, equalize.

High Heat: 1750/1800F 30-45 min.

400/1000F Temper, twice @ 2 hours.

I would temper in the 500-600 range for maximum toughness. This should put you in the high 50's - 60RC if you plate quench. You can drop the hardness if you go higher, but I don't see much point since you'll also lose toughness. If you want to get it in the low 50's you'll have to temper over 1000F.

500F - 60RC 41 ft-lbs
600F - 59RC 37 ft-lbs
1000F - 57RC - 41 ft lbs
1100F - 51RC - there's no toughness data for this tempering range.

If you skip cryo and quench in moving air, you might reduce those hardness numbers a bit. In your application it probably won't matter how exacting you are as long as they aren't too hard to hit with a hammer. The hardness falls between 600F and 1000F, but so does the toughness, so I would go with a high heat temper if you decide to go over 600.


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Last edited by AcridSaint; 09-14-2009 at 10:22 PM.
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  #3  
Old 09-16-2009, 02:32 PM
Lee Cochrane Lee Cochrane is offline
 
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my company recently banned box openers and other razor type blades because of safety reasons. every time I get cut It's the @#$%&* cardboard so if anyone can tell me how to achieve a rockwell of at least 50 with cardboard(enough carbon?) I have a great idea for a tape cutting human friendly tool.
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  #4  
Old 09-21-2009, 09:10 PM
cliff fendley cliff fendley is offline
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Thanks Cap, do you think 1850 would be too hot and ruin them if I just put them in with the next batch of D2. I don't care if they are heat treated perfect, I've used them for a while now just like they are but I can tell if I don't harden them a little they will finally deform.


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Old 09-22-2009, 12:46 AM
AcridSaint AcridSaint is offline
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Cliff - for your application I don't think that the extra 50 degrees would hurt you. I would imagine there have been many knives made from A2 that were well overheated and no one knew the difference. I won't tell anyone you did it. I would be more concerned with keeping pretty close to that 500-600 range just to stay within that maximum toughness window. Then again, we are only talking about rivet setters, probably any temper over 300F and below 1100 will do the job for you.

If you wanted to really be precise and keep the same cycle, I would soak the D2 in your A2 range, quench your punches and then ramp up the D2. You could probably get away with a shorter soak at temp on the blades, but that is beyond my very limited knowledge to comfortably recommend.


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Old 09-22-2009, 08:15 AM
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The higher hardening temperature would give higher retained austenite but that would be eliminated with a 1000 F temper [2+2 hours ].
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Old 09-22-2009, 04:05 PM
AcridSaint AcridSaint is offline
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Robert - In this application would you recommend the high heat temper over my suggested temper in A2's normal hardening range as well? I'm no tool maker, just a knifemaker, so my suggestions aren't based in any industrial experience like you've had. Would the high heat just be beneficial for RA or do you think there would be an additional benefit to him for this application?

Thanks!


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Old 09-24-2009, 02:43 AM
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At 1000 F the toughness jumps up and there is acceptable hardness along with transforming RA. That's all you need, after all your application isn'tthe toughest to deal with !
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Old 09-24-2009, 09:22 AM
AcridSaint AcridSaint is offline
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Thank you sir.


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  #10  
Old 10-03-2009, 10:34 PM
cliff fendley cliff fendley is offline
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Thanks for the info everyone.


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