Just realized I've been annealing wrong for 3 years

I was annealing my blade blanks by heating them to cherry red and then letting them cool naturally, but a guy at the guild in Austin pointed out I was basically softening the whole thing unevenly. He showed me how to only heat the spine and let the edge stay cooler, and my files started biting way better on the next try. Anyone else find out they were doing a basic step totally backwards after way too long?

3 comments

3 Comments

gavin2281mo ago

Man, that's a rough one. You basically spent three years doing an extra step that made things worse. I feel for you, but I'm also glad you finally got the right info from that guy at the guild. That's exactly the kind of thing that separates mediocre work from solid work. Heating the whole blank is a common mistake because it just seems simpler, but it actually ruins the heat treat you'd get later. Your files don't lie, so if they started biting better, that's all the proof you need. Good on you for sticking with it and learning the hard way, that's how you really lock it in.

valc911mo ago

You said "your files don't lie" and I gotta push back on that a little. Files can be misleading too, especially if you're not paying attention to the steel itself. I've seen plenty of guys heat the spine only and end up with a blade that's too soft in the middle from uneven heat soak, and then their files cut fine but the edge rolls over on the first hard use. That whole "heating the whole blank ruins heat treat" thing is only true if you're going way too hot or holding it there forever. I've annealed entire blades for years using a toaster oven at like 400 degrees and they still hardened up fine after proper heat treat. The Austin guild guy probably knows his stuff, but telling everyone that heating the whole blank is always wrong is just trading one oversimplification for another. Every steel acts different, every torch setup is different, and what works for one guy in his garage might be trash for someone else.

blairc901mo ago

Honestly, that Austin guild guy sounds like a lifesaver. I used to think heating the whole blade to cherry red was the safe way to go, figured it was just a nice even softness for filing. But after reading this, I went back and tried it your way on a 1084 blank I had sitting around, only heating the spine with a small torch. The difference was wild, my files cut clean instead of skating off, and I actually got a better edge geometry because the steel wasn't all mushy. It's crazy how one little tweak flips everything you thought you knew on its head.