Drawknives

[Stick Bender]

He claimed quick cooling made the steel brittle that it had to cool slow with no air I have used it a bunch on old chisels & works  really don't no the science behind it he was a old old school farmer carpenter & just took his word for it and used it !

[Stick Bender]

I looked heat treating up and your right Clint about cooling fast but I think it has to do with the time & temp of cooling with the anneling there cooling in oven over long period of time I dont want to put out the wrong info but the sand method makes the cheisels harder then they where I see guys on there. cooling in oil & then re baking for treating , interesting topic !

[osage outlaw]

When I harden a knife I quench it in oil to cool it down rapidly.  It is hard but brittle.  I do 2 tempering cycles in an oven to soften it up a bit so its still hard but not as brittle.  I'm no expert on the topic but I've done a hand full of knives like that and it has worked out good.  I think the old farmers knew tricks and secrets to making things work.  Most of that information will be lost to time. 


Sorry to hijack the draw knife post.   

[Badger]

When I harden a knife I quench it in oil to cool it down rapidly.  It is hard but brittle.  I do 2 tempering cycles in an oven to soften it up a bit so its still hard but not as brittle.  I'm no expert on the topic but I've done a hand full of knives like that and it has worked out good.  I think the old farmers knew tricks and secrets to making things work.  Most of that information will be lost to time. 


Sorry to hijack the draw knife post.

  Learning some basic heat treating is a good thing to know. I have had friends who make real nice looking knives really drop the ball when it comes to the tempering and heat treating process. My son has one of the those element reading tools that can identify all the different alloys in metals or anything else. I think I will have him run it across my draw knives and check out the differences in the alloys.

[osage outlaw]

Badger, have him test the blade and the spine if he can.  I have an old one that looks to be 2 different steels forge welded together.   

[Stick Bender]

Yep those old depretion era old timers didnt have many resorces so had to find what worked probably a ton of things lost to time.