I'm getting bit with the make it yourself thing, damnit.  



I know I', getting better with my cheesy grinder, since this took about 1hr to get mostly shaped and started on the edges.  

It's 1080, which I've never used before, but grinds easily.  Thinking antler handles, and an edge quench.  Maybe.  

(I am in progress on about 4 other blades at the same time.  I need to get good at heat Treating now)

Lookin' good. Post it when finished.

Well, a couple more pics, but it's not going to get finished.

Between quenching and tempering, there is a 1/2" crack up the edge.  didn't hear it during the quench, so it might have happened during the temper.  Dunno.  I etched it in vinegar to see if there was anything interesting hiding, but doesn't look like it.  

Looks like that one is finished. Too bad.

I guess this is where the forgers have an advantage. Back in the fire and let's start over.

Professor, how did you do your quench?  What medium and at what temperature?  I have had 1095 crack before, albeit rarely, but never 1080 or 1084.  Did you temper immediately after the quench?  I have heard of the 10xx series of steels cracking occasionally if there was a long delay between the quench and temper cycles.

Quoted: Professor, how did you do your quench?

I had water, heated to 150.  Left in their for about 30-50 seconds, pulled it, went to the pre-heated toaster oven at 425.  After an hour of that, I took it down to the grinder and with a 320 belt cleaned off the scale and found my handy crack.  

Any suggestions on avoiding this will be greatly appreciated.  I guess I will try oil next time for quenchant.

The water is most certainly the problem.  Even though some of the 10xx series of steels are considered water quench types, especially 1095, every maker I know uses oil.  For the plain carbon steels, again, 10xx, a fast quench is needed.  When I used 1095, which is not a deep hardening steel, I found that a very light oil such as ATF would harden the blade just fine without cracking.  Whenever I experimented with water and 1095 I got cracks.  Brownell's Tough Quench also worked well for hardening 1095.  For the 1080 - 1084 series, any good oil should do.  The 1080 series makes a really tough blade when properly heat treated.  You can use olive oil, peanut oil, mineral oil or even motor oil.  My recommendation is to get a gallon or two of veterinary grade mineral oil.  I get it at the local Cenex feed store.  It works wonderful for 10xx, O1, 5160 or 52100, is very consistent and rarely flames even when doing an edge quench due to its high flash point.  Your temperature is fine.  I use 145 - 160 F for my quenches.

I got back out in the shop today (finally) and decided to snap the blade to see.  It didn't take much to get it to snap the rest of the way.  Pics coming whne I dig up my camera.  

It cleanly broke along a perpendicular edge to the length of the blade.  The steel is uniform in color, a whitish pastel color.  The crack is not very clear, as it still has some scale on it.  There is another small crack I wouldn't have ever noticed on one of the flats!  Only looking at the break can you see where it would be.  It's maybe 1/64" deep.  

I snapped the blade end once more closer to the tip.  About 3/4" from the tip another crack was discovered.  Again, another clean break, except for the side where the crack was.  This one was on the spine of the blade, not the edge.  The steel was a bit different in this section, however.  The edge was almost marbled looking.  As I tried to edge quench this blade that's not suprising.  The belly and spine were very uniform in texture and color.  The crack near the spine was perhaps 1/8" deep and went through the width of the blade.  

I will try the next one with the veggie Oil I use for the O1 blades.