26C3 Carbon Steel - Spicy White

comet_sharp said:
Drum forge works much better for these steels compared to kiln in my experience as well
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Comet,
Any reason a drum forge works better than a programmable kiln for this steel?
In my experience, exact temperature regulation and soak time is pretty important for these hyper-eutectiod steels.

I realize some folks have made a drum forge with PID control, which should work similar to a kiln, but can't see where it would be better than a kiln?
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Comet,
Any reason a drum forge works better than a programmable kiln for this steel?
In my experience, exact temperature regulation and soak time is pretty important for these hyper-eutectiod steels.

I realize some folks have made a drum forge with PID control, which should work similar to a kiln, but can't see where it would be better than a kiln?
Click to expand...
Trey has a PID Controlled drum forge.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Comet,
Any reason a drum forge works better than a programmable kiln for this steel?
In my experience, exact temperature regulation and soak time is pretty important for these hyper-eutectiod steels.

I realize some folks have made a drum forge with PID control, which should work similar to a kiln, but can't see where it would be better than a kiln?
Click to expand...


If it was PID controlled, I would think that a reducing atmosphere could be a benefit for these fairly thin hyper-eutechtoid steels. I don't know if the end result would necessarily be better, but it sounds like it could be beneficial. I could be wrong though :)

~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Just some older videos of some knives I've made in the past)
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Comet,
Any reason a drum forge works better than a programmable kiln for this steel?
In my experience, exact temperature regulation and soak time is pretty important for these hyper-eutectiod steels.

I realize some folks have made a drum forge with PID control, which should work similar to a kiln, but can't see where it would be better than a kiln?
Click to expand...
Hey Stacy, I honestly didn't mean to say better, meant to say
"Drum forges work just as well" simply because they weren't listed.
There is no need for a PID, very easy to "park" them at a certain temperature just by adjusting air/gas. My drum does hold much more consistent temperatures than my kiln did, but I've also seen amazingly accurate kilns.
For hamon there is a benefit of being able to directly see the blade while it soaks but yet again I have seen many amazing hamon from kiln as well. Also reducing atmosphere nice for less decarb/scale.
Didn't mean to say one was better than other, just wanted to bring it up as they are over looked.
-Trey
 
About the steel.
I ordered a good size batch of different sizes. It came in 2 days, packed better than I have had antique glassware shipped. I am really going to have to look through Chucks site and see what else I have been missing.

Knife shots to come soon, I hope.
 
Well I am not picky about steel designation! Call it what you will!

Some call Cru Forge V “5160 on steroids”?????? To my point, I am just calling out the fact that in the DIN designation usually the carbon “points” are enumerated in the designation. 115w (1.15 % carbon). 125cr2 (1.25 % carbon). Etc.

Being familiar with those designations, I have to admit that a simple 26c3 threw me off. But because we are talking knife steels , it is sort of “duh”. We aren’t talking about 0.26% carbon.

Sort of like 52100 is named 100cr6. But then what does “cr6” mean in reference to 52100? (Topic for another post)

Whatever. Carry on. It just seems logical to call it 126c3. (1.26% carbon and 0.30% chromium).
 
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Oy! Those Northern Euro cats seem to have the "generic Germanic" designation like 110CrV5, the DIN designation like 1.2519 and then they might even have a similar semi-proprietary quasi-generic trade name like BE2519 which uses the last 4 of the DIN number. Of course, that is before you start taking about actual brand names for some stuff. ;)
Larrin said:
Don't mix your Germans with your Swedes. :)
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This is very interesting, particularly the high hardness. I don't deal in hamons (yet?), but am curious about other properties relative to things I'm familiar with. Obviously for differential hardening blades, this will be great, and Chuck's example is smokin'. (and his packaging methods too!)

But what's the expected edge stability, relative to other steels? Grain and carbide size/volume? Toughness relative to to the stuff on Larrin's chart that we're familiar with? What are the dominant carbide types, for instance? (Is that a reasonable question?)
 
Okay. I'll ask. Is this stuff the Shifgefusa core steel or is that another blend?
 
Anyone had issues with the .078" stock warping during HT or while grinding?

I'm assuming most would grind after HT for this particular thickness.
 
I ht 26c3 12 coupons and 3 blades with targeted peak hardness at 67rc. 1650F normalized+grain refinement. Aust 1430F 10-15 minutes soak (there were 7 pieces, so 1st to quench at 10 minutes soak, so on to 15 minutes for the 7th). Result= Peak hardness 67rc, 66.5rc@300F tempered, 64.5rc@400F. Also ht aldo w2 at this aust temp and soak time, peak hardness at 66.5rc, 65rc@400F.
 
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Mitchell Knives said:
Anyone had issues with the .078" stock warping during HT or while grinding?

I'm assuming most would grind after HT for this particular thickness.
Click to expand...

I just finished heat treating and doing some initial grinding (all post HT) on my first one and it was dead straight out of quench and temper and hasn't shown a tendency to warp during grinding thus far.
Only one blade but so far so good.
I followed Chuck's protocol of 1475 aus into P50 with RC67 as quenched. After temper X 2 it's reading RC63-64.
So far it's grinding like higher alloyed steel ie chewing through belts. I haven't yet tried to hand sand it but I'm sure it's going to be some work. Our pain is the customers gain :D
 
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