Tweeking the ColdSteel LTC blank part 4

In this part I finish the blade down to a 240 grit, then quench and temper it.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• rockfarm
• knives
• LTC
• cold
• steel
• forging
• blacksmith

[trikeman47]

Hi Jim, I've seen many bladesmiths tempering after heat treat but it seems that all use a different temperature and length of time in heat. Is it based on the material, the quench type or just personal preference?

[laneakjt]

@trikeman47 Wow that is a good question and the short answer is yes. Almost 3 years ago when I started to learn how to forge blades I immersed myself in everything I could find on the subject.  Info from primitive blade forums, blacksmithing forums, knife making videos (hoodswoods vol#9 featuring Tai Goo and Tim Livley) the 50$ knife shop by Wayne Goddard and both of those fantastic books by Jim Hrisoulas. I paid close attention to the steps involved and used the times and temps that

[laneakjt]

@laneakjt seemed to go along with all the information the "best". There is a huge amount of info out there and I am continually searching and learning new techniques and ideas. As far as the tempering temps go, for most steels I use 350 for 2-1/2 to 3 hours for shorter hunting type blades and 410 for the same time for heavy choppers (so they can be a bit softer) I hope that helps!

[vince38curious2]

That was a LOT of smoke Question What type of quenchent do you use??

[laneakjt]

@vince38curious2

Its a mix of lard, old oil and paraffin and it makes a gel type of quench. Since it was is the 30's that day the stuff was dang near solid so it took a while to warm up and it was VERY smoky lol!

[vince38curious2]

@laneakjt OK That is an unusual mix. Personally I use Canola vegtable oil and that seems to work very well with the 5160 spring steel and rail road spikes I use to make my blades.

[laneakjt]

@vince38curious2 Yes it is, I picked it up from the 50$ knife shop by Wayne Goddard (i think) I t works fine but I will probably try something new in the future.

[vince38curious2]

@laneakjt Question. Do you have any idea what type of steel they use to make fork lift tynes? The reason I ask is because I have about a 7KG piece left over from when I made my anvil out of a forklift tyne and I want to use it to make a set of samurai swords Katana, Ko-Katana, and Tanto. But I don't know what type of quench IE: water or oil because I don't know what type of steel it is:((

[psychodelicdragon]

lookin' geeeewwwwdddddddd!!!!

now the fun begins!!

[SSC13666]

Great work bro keep it up