The 1075 eBay bandit strikes again

Shawn, JTKnives does heat treating as part of his business. Having one of 3 read 38HRC even after a forging heat for normalizing....something is WAY wrong, and I promise you it’s not technique. Tempering has nothing to do with this. Austenitizing as a batch or in sequence doesn’t matter with a reading that low. Grinding thru decarb isn’t it either, as you can even see the divot where the readings were taken. Again, he does this for a living, and knows what he is doing.

A eutectoid steel like 1075 is about the easiest steel to heat treat, as long as the quench medium is correct (and Parks 50 is what you want).

It was obvious where the steel came from just by the screenshot (to me anyway). This is a trend and all-too-familiar problem, not just with their 1075.

This is as frustrating to me as much as it is for JTKnives. Well, maybe not. But close.
 
The low manganese 1075 is a bit trickier than, let's say, 5160. The austenizing range of 1075 is quite narrow and the pearlite nose of the low manganese one is very short. You have to be very quick from the kiln/forge to the quench tank. In those regards, low Mn 1075 isn't a newbie steel imo...
 
Well heck... Until I hear otherwise, looks like I'm shifting to Alpha. I don't have a hardness tester to test each blade, but so far the pieces of 1084 and 1075 I've tested from New Jersey Steel Baron after hardening were hard and brittle (file tested and "snap" tested) (not highly scientific). The variance in the same bar makes me uncomfortable...

I will note this... I etch many/most of my blades in acid. The 1075 has had a couple of patches post HT that etched really light. They cleaned up though after going back to the grinder for a bit (then etched dark after). I'm guessing the 1075 generates more decarb than the 1084 I was used to?
 
Joel Mercier said:
The low manganese 1075 is a bit trickier than, let's say, 5160. The austenizing range of 1075 is quite narrow and the pearlite nose of the low manganese one is very short. You have to be very quick from the kiln/forge to the quench tank. In those regards, low Mn 1075 isn't a newbie steel imo...
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not true. As long as the steel gets into the quench before recalescence, you are fine. The pearlite nose is the time from about 1385f to below about 900f, not how long from the kiln to the quench.
 
Time from oven to the parks 50 tank is about 1-2sec. Thy where processed together as a batch. The test spot is probably about .020 deep. We have had blades in the past show soft blotches down the center of the bar. These where not apparent till surface grinding. At first I thought decarb but it was identical shape and size blotch on the other side. So it was a soft patch all the way through. My question is how does this happen at the mill?

THIS STEEL WAS NOT FROM NJSB
 
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Oh jeez. I just bought 4 bars of 1084 from them. I hope it's good cause I actually had a pretty easy time getting 1084 from December/January to harden in my little 2 brick forge last week.
 
I’m not sure what’s causing the issue. I hope for my fellow knife makers that it’s just an isolated incident. If you have any issues and want a sample hardness tested I would be happy to do so. But chances are that it will be fine.

THIS STEEL WAS NOT FROM NJSB
 
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Appreciated. No issues here. Despite the warnings I've heard about the 1084 needing to be normalized I didn't have to do that. It absolutely will not let a file bite. I didn't bother tempering cause I ruined that one on the grinder anyways.

Edit: I see this thread is getting a little heated so I'd like to mention that I have no strong feelings towards Alpha Knife Supply or New Jersey Steel Baron, and wish to remain neutral.
 
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Good ol New Jersey steel baron. Only steel supplier I've ordered that has been bent, twisted lengthwise, and the roughest sheer cuts so that by the time I cleaned up the edges the 1.25 wide bars were barely over an inch. 3 orders in a row something was wrong havent ordered since in 8 years. Alpha spoils us by comparison.no question about it
 
Thats a good question. And if this is a long term trend, does our friend from Joisy maybe need to talk to someone else in German like Achim Wirtz?
JTknives said:
Time from oven to the parks 50 tank is about 1-2sec. Thy where processed together as a batch. The test spot is probably about .020 deep. We have had blades in the past show soft blotches down the center of the bar. These where not apparent till surface grinding. At first I thought decarb but it was identical shape and size blotch on the other side. So it was a soft patch all the way through. My question is how does this happen at the mill?
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I never had issues in the past. I admit, I haven't bought any new steel from Aldo in several years. Maybe it is a newer problem.
 
Could it be that the Tang isn't getting hard because that 1075 is extremely shallow Harding and the Tang is to thick to hardin? That's where your checking for the hardness right JTknives JTknives .
 
JTknives said:
Time from oven to the parks 50 tank is about 1-2sec. Thy where processed together as a batch. The test spot is probably about .020 deep. We have had blades in the past show soft blotches down the center of the bar. These where not apparent till surface grinding. At first I thought decarb but it was identical shape and size blotch on the other side. So it was a soft patch all the way through. My question is how does this happen at the mill?
Click to expand...

Seems the most likely answer would be that the knife maker accidentally mixed up a piece of steel.
 
Mecha said:
Seems the most likely answer would be that the knife maker accidentally mixed up a piece of steel.
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This steel was identical in thickness and mill finish to the other 2. I am going to surface grind these down and probe around with the tester a little and see what I find.

THIS STEEL WAS NOT FROM NJSB
 
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JTknives said:
This steel was identical in thickness and mill finish to the other 2. But just a few weeks before this I got 4 blades of 1075 from a different customer Who got it from the same supplier and non of them would harden. I am going to surface grind these down and probe around with the tester a little and see what I find.
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Oh goodness, so it's not an isolated incident. There goes my theory. :eek::D
 
So I was informed today that this steel did not come from NJSB. My customer did buy 1075 from NJSB but upon looking around he found NJSB’s bar sitting in the corner. This was 1075 that was bought from a vender on eBay. I have informed NJSB to let them know and I’m backtracking to see any posts I might have made that could of implicated them in this. My sincerest apologies to involved.

THIS STEEL WAS NOT FROM NJSB
 
JTknives said:
So I was informed today that this steel did not come from NJSB. My customer did buy 1075 from NJSB but upon looking around he found NJSB’s bar sitting in the corner. This was 1075 that was bought from a vender on eBay. I have informed NJSB to let them know and I’m backtracking to see any posts I might have made that could of implicated them in this. My sincerest apologies to involved.

THIS STEEL WAS NOT FROM NJSB
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Good to know! :thumbsup:

~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Just some older videos of some knives I've made in the past)
 
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