First time normalizing 1095 was a catastrophe

If you have issues with warping, a 1200f x2h subcritical anneal after grinding can help. I don’t use it very often any more. My grinds are much more even now than a few years ago.

Yeah, I need to alternate sides more often when grinding. I think grinding on one side for too long was the issue on these larger thinner kitchen knives.

Also was thinking I could put a warped blade through normalization/thermal cycles, and then fix the warps on the last cycle before it cools. I still have some 01, 1084, and 1095 I have to go through that could probably benefit from normalization and grain refinement. And would only have to fix warps once. But seems like that would just make the warps more pronounced and would take more work to correct.

A water cooled platen might not be a bad idea either.
 
Yeah, I need to alternate sides more often when grinding. I think grinding on one side for too long was the issue on these larger thinner kitchen knives.

Also was thinking I could put a warped blade through normalization/thermal cycles, and then fix the warps on the last cycle before it cools. I still have some 01, 1084, and 1095 I have to go through that could probably benefit from normalization and grain refinement. And would only have to fix warps once. But seems like that would just make the warps more pronounced and would take more work to correct.

A water cooled platen might not be a bad idea either.

Using fresh belts is more important imho. I do a lot of offset grinds on kitchen knives, and they come out warp free for the most part. Dull belts peen the steel, rather than cutting cleanly. That loads up a lot of stress.
 
Using fresh belts is more important imho. I do a lot of offset grinds on kitchen knives, and they come out warp free for the most part. Dull belts peen the steel, rather than cutting cleanly. That loads up a lot of stress.

Huh, now that I think of it that would make sense, and I do try and stretch the life of my belts more than I should.

Also speed. I've been upping the speed of my grinder, as I'm trying to shave time I spend on doing bevels to something more reasonable. But the platen heats up quite a bit. It also depends on the belts. Starting to look into the fancier ones that're a little more money per belt. Ones that last longer or dissipate heat better.
 
Finally got the Evenheat! Apparently they're overwhelmed with oders. Almost 2 month lead time.:0

So back to attempting a proper normalization and grain refinement on those blades...

Yesterday I ran the 3 blades through a normalization cycle at 1600. Then two cycles at 1450 for grain refinement. Moved onto hardening. Put the blades in at about 1450 and soaked for about 8 minutes once it hit 1500. Quenchedin Parks heated to about 120. Removed the scale and did the file test. Grabbing when applying a little pressure. Also did a hrdness test on the blade. Shows it's about mid to high 40s HRC.

So wondering if I made the steel unhardenable?Because of the initial attempt at normalization/grain refinement, with the addition of a second attempt, did I reduce the grain too much? And if so is there any way to fix the problem at this point?
 
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Because I can't leave things well enough alone, and had nothing else to do, I went ahead and attempted another heat treat. Put them in at about 1200, since it seems to drop around there when putting in 3 blades. Let them soak for about 10 minutes after reaching 1475 and quenched. And the file seems to be biting more than before:/

Could it be that I need to grind the heck out of it to get past the decarb? I filed pretty hard on the edge several times, but didn't want to overdo it since I'd be changing the profile of my blade at that point.

This is the first time I've had any issues like this, so completely at a loss. Guess I've been lucky up until now. Still would like to salvage what I have if possible though.
 
Well this coversation with myself has been fun:p

So turns out it was in fact heavy decarb. More than what I'm used to anyway. I'll have to make a note of it with this particular supply. File is skating off the steel now.
 
See post 10. This discussion happens every few weeks here. We tell people what to check, and almost every time, the outcome is the same. That’s why you had a conversation with yourself.
 
It isn't the steel it is the techniques you are using. If you heat a bar of steel repeatedly above 1400F it will form a lot of decarb. As Willie pointed out, the standard answer is - "There is likely nothing wrong with your steel or the blade hardness … grind the decarb away and get down to the hard steel.
 
Fair enough. I've learned my lesson on normalizing and grain refining. And I appreciate all the help with straightening me out on that. Now that I have the equipment to do it properly, that shouldn't be an issue anymore. I also ordered some ATP 641 for good measure.

Currently I'm battling with whatever the pattern is that I mentioned earlier. It started showing up before any heat treatment on the blade, during the initial grinding, and won't come out. Lost count of how many times I ground/handsanded it from 120 to 1500 thinking it was gone, only to show up again when I go and do the etch. It wouldn't be as much of an issue if it was consistent throughout the whole blade, but it looks all blotchy. Interesting thing is that it doesn't seem to etch at all, so comes out much lighter than the etched parts.

Anyway, thanks again for all the help.
 
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