Better Magnacut Heat Treatment?

I perform an experiment heat treating these Magnacut Redback blades for the Sydney Show. Watch and see the end results. ‪@KnifeSteelNerds‬ getting cleaner results using an Argon gas purge in my foil packets.
Sorry for the ckickbait title :D

[@simenstryckers8623]

Hi Alistair, a very thin coat of baby powder solved my problems with foil sticking to the blade (which seems to happen from approximately 1150°C but not at around 1050°C with my setup). On a sidenote: I fold the seams of foil packages twice and gently tap them shut with a small hammer, the discoloration on blades varies but is pretty clean most of the time, maybe slightly worse than the result in this video.

[@AlistairPhillipsFolders]

Yep next batch I am going to try with some baby powder. I also fold my seams twice. I use my vice to fold them over and seal the packet.

[@djozzamstedam]

I'm not into steel-working at all, just a thought from what I see and it may be irrelevant: it may not be just the air in the foil packet could stain the steel, but maybe also contaminating solids: fats from remaining fingerprints on the foil may evaporate, or a tiny bit of dirt from the pencil you stick in it. Anything solid will turn into gas or give off gasses at heat treat temperatures and may affect the steel surface.

[@reaverarms3350]

Posted this on your Ig also but a smidge of baby powder almost none at all will keep it from sticking and will just slide right out even at really high temp cooks. I also had a nerdy thought about the argon. You could get like a small plastic bin storage bin and just use the botom and fill it with some argon like an invisble gas bath tub. Since argon is heavier than air, if you are careful to not disturb it much you can probably fill the foil like you are but in the bin of argon. Im guessing when you fill it it probably leaks a lot and lets air in when your closing it up. Very cool tho. gonna keep an eye.

[@AlistairPhillipsFolders]

I was wondering about holding the foil pouch vertically to take advantage of that and having the argon flow in from the top. If I had a set of wide jaw pliers that I could fold the top of the pouch of with I think that could be a better approach. I plan on adding some baby powder on the next one. It has never been a problem when I do RWL34 but that is at a lower temperature than needed for Magnacut.

[@smokNmiras]

Beat me to it. Baby powder is the go!👍

[@christopherlarson7579]

Good evening! Is it possible to recarburize magnacut after heavy decarburuzation occurs? Thank you for your time!

[@growleym504]

For a one-off, maybe helium would work? Buy a balloon. Feed it to the end of the pouch with a PAPER STRAW cut to length, and leave it in when you close up the pouch. That will give you a "getter" to soak up any remaining O2 or any traces that is out-gassed. Pure talcum powder USP grade might be slightly better than baby powder, I don't know. But honestly, I don't care if there is sticking. DISCLAIMER: I am still just looking at my first piece of MagnaCut, haven't even drawn on it much less cut it yet so maybe I don't know what I am talking about, but other steels I have used and sticking is no biggie when it happens. I have never purged with inert gas, just included some paper for a getter, and squished all the air out in a sand box before the final crimp. I am thinking about making up a vacuum pump sucker/outer thingie that might be better than squishing the air out in sand under pressure.

[@michaell397]

It looks like you may be using foil wrap that is containing ti. It works well for clean blades however, over 1875 F it will weld a bit t the blade as I see here. Switch to a non Ti. containing foil wrap. As far as baby powder, sadly, it is no longer available here in the U.S.. GRRRRRR! I have not tried it's replacement which has been corn starch. I guess it might be okay if you want a bit of corn bread with you steel! LOL!!! KnifeMaker

[@andrewh6034]

Technically beyond me, but I found it interesting.

[@Texasmadeshow]

Plate quench?

[@AlistairPhillipsFolders]

That's correct, plate quench using 1" thick aluminium plates. I quench still in the foil packet.

[@booperthebest1501]

@@AlistairPhillipsFolders is there an advantage to using foil packets for magnacut? - im knew to knife making and am slightly confused why the foil is needed

[@AlistairPhillipsFolders]

@@booperthebest1501 Yes if you don't protect it from the hot atmosphere in the kiln you will cause a bunch of scale and lose carbon from the surface of the steel. It is worse for Magnacut as it requires a higher temperature and it is in there for longer compared to plain carbon steels.

[@booperthebest1501]

@@AlistairPhillipsFolders thanks a lot! is that why people dont use the foil for stuff like 1084 where the temp required is lower?

[@AlistairPhillipsFolders]

@@booperthebest1501 and it doesn’t need to be held at that temperature for long at all for 1084 etc

[@larrymarsico4059]

🤙🏻👊🏻🇺🇲