# Bladesmithing - Trials and tribulations



## Kippington (Jan 12, 2016)

I'd like to post pictures of my latest project. It failed to hold up to the rigors of heat-treating.

I'm a hobbyist bladesmith. I put about 8 hours of hand hammering and grinding into this knife before quenching it in water. Unfortunately I got the 'tink' of death, with two major cracks in it. This is the second time (of two) a blade of mine has 'died' during the quench... 100% rate of failure. :shocked3:

















I'm posting this out of pure frustration, maybe the members here can appreciate the effort that goes into broken garbage.
Feel free to add any comments: Advice and criticism is welcome.


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## WillC (Jan 12, 2016)

The forging looks really really nice from what I can see of the profile without examining the taper and bevels, very hard too show bevels anyway on film on a forged piece. Therefore I feel your pain.


Firstly what is the steel you have chosen, temperature and method of gauging temperature for quench and quenching, you say plain water rather than brine?

Cheers

Will


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## Kippington (Jan 12, 2016)

Thanks Will.
I did some grinding work to the blade before the pictures, so the shape appears much nicer then my actual abilities on the anvil. The steel is 1084 with a rustic/stupid quenching approach: Hot tap water, heated to temp by eye at night (see dancing shadows, then heat a bit hotter) over a frustratingly narrow heat source.

What properties do salt add to the quenchant?


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## PolishAvenger (Jan 12, 2016)

Kip, you need to find yourself a fast oil for your quench. 1084 isn't too picky, canola oil warmed to about 120 F works just fine. You'll increase your success rate rather dramatically!
-Mark


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## WillC (Jan 12, 2016)

Agree with the above, quench in a fast - ish oil is safest, you can still achieve hamon, differential hardening especially as you are forging some geometry first. Adding some salt to plain water makes it a bit thicker/slower quench than plain water, clay coat would also help. But you will have most satisfaction from a fast oil definitely. Not my speciality really, most of my stuff is in deeper hardening oil quench steels therefore I use a medium oil. Cheers

Will


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