nozza36 wrote:The Toolmaker i work with said it does have a tendency to "work harden" but when i'm done with it , he will "bake " it in the oven at work to give it a proper hard finish
whf ! it's hard as fuck already lol , dread to think how long it will take to hone
There is more to heat treating than "baking" it. Silver steel is a fairly standard high carbon tool steel and must be heat treated in two steps:
1. The blade must be heated to its critical temperature (normally cherry red, "bright red" not dull red) and then quenched in either water or oil. I suggest oil, as water may shock the blade and cause it to warp or break.
This hardens the steel but it is far too hard at that point and will shatter if banged against anything hard. It is also too hard to sharpen or work in any way.
2. The steel must then be tempered (softened) back to working hardness by baking it until it achieves a Rockwell C hardness of around 58. If you are doing this by hand, clean the blade after quenching so it is shiny and then bake it around 450 F or heat it with a torch until it colours to a straw colour. Purple is too soft and requires starting over.
If your guy at work has a heat treating oven, the temperature for hardening is 800 - 810 C, (if oil quenching).
Depending on the hardness wanted, tempering is 150 - 300 C. I would suggest trying various temperatures on scrap pieces until you get the right colour, again by achieving a straw colour. If your guy has a Rockwell tester, 58RC is a good hardness that will allow easy sharpening.