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I see way too many new smiths skipping the normalizing step
I was at a hammer-in last month and watched a guy take a blade straight from the quench to the grinder without any normalizing cycles. He ended up with a warped knife that had hard spots all over it. I used to skip normalizing myself when I started out about 15 years ago because I thought it was a waste of time. But after ruining three blades in a row, I learned that those three heating and cooling cycles before hardening make a huge difference. Has anyone else found a normalizing routine that works well for thicker stock?
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wendy6281mo ago
Three normalizing cycles from 1600 down to 1200 worked best for my 1/4 inch 1084 stock.
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roberts951mo ago
I mean, is normalizing really that big of a deal? I've been doing this for a while and honestly I've had way more blades fail from bad heat treat or grinding too thin than from skipping a few cycles. Maybe it's just me but I think people get too hung up on the small stuff.
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