I would like to bow to the experience of someone who has done this with consistent results. I have had an order for tactical axes and I need to make this order without mistakes. I have been reading an old post from 8 years ago discussing what was the best thoughts, but no one did a summary. Here is that 101 posting: https://www.americanbladesmith.org/community/heat-treating-101/80crv2/
I am concerned as I also saw a newer post with a man out of south Dakota having difficulties, and I am guessing he read the original post and it didn't work for him. If anyone has experience, don't hesitate to tell me every detail you are willing to share including your quenchant oil, oil temp, steel prep, etc.
Respectfully
Michael
There's a good, comprehensive article on 80CrV2 over at Knife Steel Nerds ( https://knifesteelnerds.com/2022/06/23/how-to-heat-treat-80crv2/ ). I've been following these guidelines for the last couple of years with good results (passed my Journeyman Smith performance test with this process).
I'm using a heat-treat oven, so I'm able to get pretty consistent temps, but here are my steps:
- Normalize at 1650, 1500 and 1350 with 15 minutes of soak time at each temp. I also air cool between cycles rather than waiting for the oven to dissipate heat.
- Anneal at 1400, hold for 30 min and then cool down to 1200 at 600 degrees per hour.
- I've started grinding at this stage and then hand sanding to 220, because the metal is nice and soft and you don't need to worry about overheating on the grinder as much.
- Heat to 1525 for 15 minutes, then quench in Parks AAA
- Temper around 375 for 2 hours.
- Draw the spine back further once or twice depending on thickness. You can also clamp the knife up and work out warps during this process.
Hope this is helpful.
Hello, good . I can say that this is the steel I use most in my shop, and I'm very satisfied with the overall performance of my hunting and field work. My tempering process is two cycles at 375° F, lasting an hour and a half each. This is a recommendation from a master in a knife instruction course. Best regards.
