i burnt my knife :(

Z

ZippyDan

Joined
Sep 30, 2005
Messages
61
i was sterilizing the end of my ag russell pen knife, which i believe is all titanium

using a butane "jet flame" lighter

it scorched the knife

usually i just wipe off the "soot" and its fine

but the burn wont go away

what to do?
 
you COOKED the temper out of it. The only way to make the burn go away is to buff it off with either I guess an SOS pad, sand it down, or use a buffing wheel with a light compound. emery works well.
 
oh doh and you also softened the knife by scorching it. after it turns a straw brown or to blue or whatever colors the hardness is gone. sorry to hear that.
 
It's possible that you didn't harm the steel. It depends on what type steel it is, and how hot it actually got. Wiping with alcohol is a better way to sterilize it.
Bill
 
Note that even if you draw the temper on the knife it doesn't go from 60 HRC to 20 HRC as soon as it is over heated. How far you soften it depends on how hot it gets. Note the colors you see also depend on the type of steel, stainless for example discolors much hotter than carbon so by the time you see anything it has been really heated.

-Cliff
 
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