Preheat all high carbon steels to red/orange and allow to cool fully before reheating and forging. When grinding if your blade turns black in a spot you have burned the carbon and possibly ruined the steel. Use water when quenching lower carbon steel to gain max hardness but it is best to use oil on high carbon to prevent cracking.Īlways be aware of your steels color and if at yellow be extra careful not to burn or melt your steel. This can bend the steel during the process. When quenching your blade always insert it vertically and do not stir the liquid. Always use a thumb over fist grip to prevent pain and damage to your arm.
When holding your hammer during forging it is important that you loosely grip the hammer and allow the weight to do the work.
Hammer hardening: A technique used on bronze/Copper and low-carbon steel to increase hardness by hammering while cold.Ĭlinker: A waste material that gathers in your forge during the forging process. Quenching: To dip a blade into liquid causing the rapid removal of oxygen and close the crystal structure. Temper: To heat a quenched blade and reduce its brittleness to a more durable state. Max hardness is 52/56RCĪnneal: To heat an already hardened metal back to its soft composition. Then temper for 1hour at 300/400 degrees.ġ040 Railroad spike: A fine medium carbon steel containing both the durability of iron and the hardness of high carbon steel. Heat treat by heating to bright red and quenching in oil. Heat to orange and allow to cool fully to soften. Tool Steel: I do not recommend forging this steel as much as I recommend softening and grinding from bar stock. Always temper for 1hour at 300/400 degrees. In my experience I have had no trouble heat treating this steel despite horror stories. Forges nicely at high temperature and it quenches in oil or water. Max hardness 58RC. Temper 1hour at 300/400.Ĥ40C Stainless steel.
Easiest way to finish a railroad spike knife crack#
Leaf and Coil spring steel: Great high carbon steel but has a tendency to crack in forged bellow bright orange. Hardness roughly 58RC could go higher or lower depending. Temper 1hour 300/400 degrees. Forge at yellow/Bright orange to avoid cracking. Ultra strong material that does quench harden.įiles: Great for knives of all kinds, good high carbon steel. Without a doubt the best material to start out with and practice technique. In the end a modern knife has long edge retension and iron knives had higher durability in battle but less edge rentension. The thing I love most about 1018/Modern wrought is the ability to try these ancient techniques and see how you can use and perfect or even just understand what advantage it may have given the weapons of old. Smiths would put iron in a high temperature fire with bones and coal for a period of time to increase carbon content and is still done today in metal working. This is called carberizing or surface hardening. However 42RC hardened steel will hold an edge for a period of time because it surface hardens a bit more than 42RC if heated in a carbon rich environment at high temperature.
Modern wrought Iron/1018/Low carbon steel: Only use for primitive blades, blades you hang up on the wall or for props/ritual knives. A BULLET POINTS MEMO TO HELP ANYONE JUST STARTING OUT IN BLACKSMITH WORK:
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