Easiest "supersteel" to heat treat ?

Z

Z-Stoff

Joined
Jan 12, 2022
Messages
11
(This is my first post sorry if it's in the wrong section or whatnot)

I would like to make a small folder out of a supersteel such as Z-max, Maxamet, CPM T15, etc however I only have a charcoal forge....a hand cranked charcoal forge obviously without precise temperature control not to mention the heat treating process for most of these super alloys looks nightmarish on paper even with the correct equipment I'm not necessarily expecting or wanting maximum performance from the steel either I would just like something with a Rockwell hardness over 60 that doesn't require long soak times in a extremely narrow temperature range

(I really appreciate all the suggestions/criticism/ideas from you guys but I would like to clarify that I have already heat treated probably hundreds of parts and a handful of knives made of plain carbon 10 series steel and low alloy steels like 52100
 
Last edited:
Sort by date Sort by votes
David Mary said:
or 8670, or 15N20, or O1
Click to expand...

I have no idea here, but isn't 52100 pretty easy to deal with also?

That was the first steel i thought of when I saw the "easiest SUPER steel to heat treat", as it can take some high hardness, 60-67 HRC.

Or does the high hardness make it more difficult?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Zmax, maxamet, cpm t15, rex121, etc are high Co% and W% steels, they have wide austenite range, thus considerably easier to ht than say S30V, Aebl, .. I don't have experience with blown charcoal forge but it isn't difficult to attain 60+rc heat treating with a propane torch. It would be difficult to yield 65+rc (as-quenched) w/o subzero or cryo.

Edit: IMG_0250.JPG
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
bluntcut said:
Zmax, maxamet, cpm t15, rex121, etc are high Co% and W% steels, they have wide austenite range, thus considerably easier to ht than say S30V, Aebl, .. I don't have experience with blown charcoal forge but it isn't difficult to attain 60+rc heat treating with a propane torch. It would be difficult to yield 65+rc (as-quenched) w/o subzero or cryo.

Edit: View attachment 1719762
Click to expand...


😜
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The heat treatment Loa is easy to please with an offering of charcoal and air if using something like 1084, and your steel should be infused with the Spirit of Hardness. Take care not to offer too much, or the steel will receive the Curse of Embrittlement.

Conducting a heat treat ceremony on super steel requires a much more complicated incantation, and all elements of the enchantment must be precise, or you will displease the Loa and your super steel will be bewitched with many deficiencies.

The Loa of heat treatment can be fickle if the ceremony is conducted improperly.

ABGYAqd.jpg
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Mecha said:
The heat treatment Loa is easy to please with an offering of charcoal and air if using something like 1084, and your steel should be infused with the Spirit of Hardness. Take care not to offer too much, or the steel will receive the Curse of Embrittlement.

Conducting a heat treat ceremony on super steel requires a much more complicated incantation, and all elements of the enchantment must be precise, or you will displease the Loa and your super steel will be bewitched with many deficiencies.

The Loa of heat treatment can be fickle if the ceremony is conducted improperly.

ABGYAqd.jpg
Click to expand...
Why you gotta give away all the heat secrets man. 🤯
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Mecha said:
The heat treatment Loa is easy to please with an offering of charcoal and air if using something like 1084, and your steel should be infused with the Spirit of Hardness. Take care not to offer too much, or the steel will receive the Curse of Embrittlement.

Conducting a heat treat ceremony on super steel requires a much more complicated incantation, and all elements of the enchantment must be precise, or you will displease the Loa and your super steel will be bewitched with many deficiencies.

The Loa of heat treatment can be fickle if the ceremony is conducted improperly.

ABGYAqd.jpg
Click to expand...
This sounds like some of the ancient texts on making Wootz blades lol
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Mecha said:
The heat treatment Loa is easy to please with an offering of charcoal and air if using something like 1084, and your steel should be infused with the Spirit of Hardness. Take care not to offer too much, or the steel will receive the Curse of Embrittlement.

Conducting a heat treat ceremony on super steel requires a much more complicated incantation, and all elements of the enchantment must be precise, or you will displease the Loa and your super steel will be bewitched with many deficiencies.

The Loa of heat treatment can be fickle if the ceremony is conducted improperly.

ABGYAqd.jpg
Click to expand...

OT: Nice boa, mine died in the fantastic year of 2020..
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Z-Stoff said:
Cool factor 😎 also even a poorly heat treated high alloy steel still contains enough carbides for very high wear resistance making it worth it atleast for that single aspect unless you somehow dissolve them into solution which just isn't really possible with the "supersteel class" I think of them more as ceramic particles sintered in an iron matrix not so much a "true steel" like a carbide insert for a machine tool for instance
Click to expand...
Obviously you have already decided, now get a Maxamet and show us what you made of it
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Natlek said:
Obviously you have already decided, now get a Maxamet and show us what you made of it
Click to expand...
Just ordered a T15 parting blade they are cheap enough that I won't feel that bad if I shatter it during the qench or something just a slight hit to the ego if it goes wrong 😅 Maxamet is roughly 20 usd per cubic inch so I'm going to hold off on that until I get better equipment or I will send it out for heat treatment
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I would definitely recommend sending out to heat treated. You can likely get 2 knives from whatever steel you buy.

I don't recommend using a forge to harden those steels.
Thats like buying a Ferrari and giving it 87 octane. Or lighter fluid for fuel.

You would be better off using a simpler carbon steel. I'd recommend 8670, 52100, cruforge-v or something similar.

I totally get the cool factor of those super steels. But its not worth it if you just use a Guestimate heat treat.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Z-Stoff said:
Just ordered a T15 parting blade they are cheap enough that I won't feel that bad if I shatter it during the qench or something just a slight hit to the ego if it goes wrong 😅 Maxamet is roughly 20 usd per cubic inch so I'm going to hold off on that until I get better equipment or I will send it out for heat treatment
Click to expand...
Now you are at even bigger trouble , parting blades are hardened as far as I know ? And to annealed that T15 is nightmare in heat treat oven ,you can not do that with charcoal forge .
What kind of tool you have ? Your best chance is to make that blade from that T15 as it is .
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Natlek said:
Now you are at even bigger trouble , parting blades are hardened as far as I know ? And to annealed that T15 is nightmare in heat treat oven ,you can not do that with charcoal forge .
What kind of tool you have ? Your best chance is to make that blade from that T15 as it is .
Click to expand...

Yes most definitely hardened the plan is make a couple blades purely with stock removal and the left over material I will heat treat the only reason I want to attempt a heat treat at this point other than sheer curiosity is the people asking for the results it (probably) can be stressed relieved enough in a large fire to prevent it from exploding or cracking I forged a precision scraping tool from M2 then stress relieved using that technique and it survived

What do you mean what kind of tool do I have ? If you mean why all the high speed steel related stuff I have a manual lathe and I bought a cheap hand crank forge to heat treat parts and I figured I could make some knives aswell since I already possessed most of the required skillset
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
Z-Stoff said:
Yes most definitely hardened the plan is make a couple blades purely with stock removal

What do you mean what kind of tool do I have ? If you mean why all the high speed steel related stuff I have a manual lathe and I bought a cheap hand crank forge to heat treat parts and I figured I could make some knives aswell since I already possessed most of the required skillset
Click to expand...
How you intend to do stock removal on hardened T15 ? That s why I ask what tool you have ?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
How you intend to do stock removal on hardened T15 ? That s why I ask what tool you have ?
That’s easy. Just use a T16 file! 😁
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Natlek said:
How you intend to do stock removal on hardened T15 ? That s why I ask what tool you have ?
Click to expand...
Oh the basic shape will be cut out with an angle grinder using a diamond cutoff wheel and the rough bevel will be ground in using a standard grinding wheel for an angle grinder then it will be brought into final dimensions on a grinding belt and then polished with whetstones and sand paper any drilling will have to be done with tungsten carbide drill bits
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top