JoelMercier
New Member
Yep, I had seen that one. But don't expect 61hrc if you austenized at 1525...That's what I am trying to say. Those tempering charts only work if you obtained the maximum hardness as quenched...
Ideal harness
- Thread starter JoelMercier
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And I got the "it depends" aphorism from Howard Clark, who got it from Alfred Pendray and so on back through the list of great smiths who get little credit for carrying us along. LOL. Cashen has the same motivation for keeping the BS out of conversations as I do and the rest of the good smiths I spend time with.
The Japanese taught me that the best differential hardening (hamon, hardening line etc.) occurs at about 0.6% carbon in low alloy steels.
Eutectoid steels are best for a Westerner's understanding of how to manipulate the chemistry, and the limitations of what bar stock can be purchased off the shelf. Personally I like the 0.85% range because dealing with a little retained austenite (I'm certain about 100% of what I can get for martensite that way) is easier and less of an issue than fussing with all the rest. My preference is bainitic steels but that's another cat to skin. A lot of good serviceable blades have been made when no one in the blade making business had any knowledge of the parts of this thread. Keeping things simple and not chasing off after wunderstahl or unobtanium is practical. I have friends I can learn about high test steel performance from any time i pick up the phone...or read it here.
One of the razor guys, Glen, if I remember correctly, had me revisit what I thought was sharp. It turned out that it was shaving technique more than any quantity or quality of the blade or edge. Bruno's right (where has that come up before?), it depends.
The Japanese taught me that the best differential hardening (hamon, hardening line etc.) occurs at about 0.6% carbon in low alloy steels.
Eutectoid steels are best for a Westerner's understanding of how to manipulate the chemistry, and the limitations of what bar stock can be purchased off the shelf. Personally I like the 0.85% range because dealing with a little retained austenite (I'm certain about 100% of what I can get for martensite that way) is easier and less of an issue than fussing with all the rest. My preference is bainitic steels but that's another cat to skin. A lot of good serviceable blades have been made when no one in the blade making business had any knowledge of the parts of this thread. Keeping things simple and not chasing off after wunderstahl or unobtanium is practical. I have friends I can learn about high test steel performance from any time i pick up the phone...or read it here.
One of the razor guys, Glen, if I remember correctly, had me revisit what I thought was sharp. It turned out that it was shaving technique more than any quantity or quality of the blade or edge. Bruno's right (where has that come up before?), it depends.