Not in Houston, but

We have a problem.

Nothing about the 115crv3 data sheet suggests it will be anything other than slightly easier to heat treat than 26c3 and slightly harder to heat treat than O1.

Great.

However, after several attempts to harden the steel bar that I forged into the chisel in the two chisel posts, I get around 61 hardness at the tip and after a 380 temper, that’s 58. No good.

Not just accepting this, I’ve heated and quenched and broken about 20 different iterations terminating with a slight overheat and a brine quench – which gets more uniform results, but 62 out of the quench.

So, what do I think? I think the steel that I got may not be 115crv3, but I have no idea what it is. Even something like 1070 or some other lower carbon steel would harden at a high initial hardness if you push it, but it will not have the same edge as a higher carbon steel and it will slip more in tempering than a surplus carbon steel like 26c3.

I changed my quench oil, tested other things I’ve forged from rod (O1 and W1, both end at about 62 hardness after a 400F double temper). I suspected my hardness tester was off, perhaps there was a significant decarb layer, or the steel wasn’t hardening through and through and who knows what else.

Nothing.

So, I’ll brine quench the chisel in question and lightly temper it and we’ll move on.

I’ve never had anything quench neatly in water let alone 10-15% brine (much faster than even a plain water quench), but a not quite finished other chisel of 115crv3 took the “ptthhhhfttt” noise in the brine, which is a violently fast quench and hardened nicely if 62 is nice and very evenly because no part of it transitioned from hot to cold slowly. I have used water quench before just to experiment and cracks are almost certain if you’re pushing things.

I am curious enough about these bars to see what will happen if I hammer out a plane iron. Will it show carbides, which suggest enough carbon to form them? I think it does in broken samples. If it does, why won’t it come out of the quench greater than 62, and what will I do with 12 feet of rod, which will literally make about 25 continuous feet of finished goods – more than that if making chisels. I think it’s destined to be put aside and used for junk knives. Since the steel is so uncommon in the US meeting actual spec, there aren’t any options to order more and compare. Others that I’ve seen listed claim 1% carbon, more chromium and more vanadium. I don’t know what those are – they may be an English spec of something, but they aren’t 115crv3 regardless of what the listing says.

This kind of stuff is part of the process and even if the rod that I thought would be ideal isn’t at all suitable, I’ll learn other things from it, and in this case, quenched in brine for the first time.