The Run Ranger Run knife is now!

"Hard as woodpecker lips"

Okay we lost a few days last week do to some really cold days. But we got the two knives into heat treat today. From here its al about cleaning up the grinds, and getting ready to select the handle material.

The knives went into the oven for a "Normalizing" cycle which helps refine the grain structure of the steel.

Pre-heat treat

 First cycle of normalizing

 Once the normalizing cycle is done and the knives have completely cooled, they go back in the oven and heat up to 1500 degrees for approximately 7-8 minutes. One at a time they are removed very quickly and placed into a very good quench oil called Parks 50

 

At this point they are check to ensure they are straight, because they are very hard they are or can be brittle. But with a small hand press you can make small adjustments to get them nice and flat.

Press setup for getting them flat and straight

Tomorrow they will go through a temper cycle to get them at the proper hardness which will be between 58-59 Rockwell "C" scale. Then we get going on finishing them!

Thanks and stay tuned for the next installment.