I keep seeing people skip the proper soak time for high carbon steel

I mean, maybe it's just me, but I see a lot of newer smiths pull their 1095 out of the forge and go straight to quench. You need that full 5 minute soak at critical temp, not just until it's non-magnetic. I learned this the hard way ten years ago when a batch of hunting knives I made all had soft spots. My old mentor in Flagstaff would time it with an egg timer on his forge. Without that soak, the steel doesn't fully transform and you get inconsistent hardness. Has anyone else had to unlearn this rush to quench?

3 comments

3 Comments

morganhill1mo ago

You ever wonder if the rush to quench is just a side effect of our instant-gratification culture? Like, people can't even wait for a microwave pizza without hitting the button twice, so a five minute steel soak feels like an eternity. I picture some guy nervously tapping his foot while his blade turns into a fancy letter opener.

the_sandra22d ago

Bet your bottom dollar that foot tapper is me, but my last rush job cracked clean in half.

derek9941mo ago

What if the soak time is just old school overkill? I watched a guy at a demo quench 1084 straight from the forge and his blades passed every file test. Sometimes I think we get stuck on rules from a time when forge temps were a guess. If your steel is evenly heated and you hit the right color, maybe that extra five minutes is just wasting fuel and risking grain growth for no real gain.