Australian Blade Ed 3 Dec 2017

Treating Stainless Steel
Heating
Beginner’s Guide
A
Article & photos by James Johnson
So, you have made a few carbon steel knives and
you’re wanting to try working with stainless and
heat treating. Here’s the process I use and thought
I would share and give a few tips on the way I heat
treat in particularly, Sandvik 12C27 and Damasteel
RWL34.
When heat treating, you can use a gas forge
setup but I prefer to use an electric kiln as in a
Paragon or Evenheat kiln, as they can maintain
good control at high temperatures which is
needed for heat treating stainless.
Firstly, I start with a piece of annealed (soft)
steel and profile the basic shape and prepare
the surface using a belt grinder or hand tools
depending on what you have available.
Once you are happy with the profile, drilled the handle pin holes and stamped any makers marks, etc.,
it’s time to make an envelope from 309 stainless foil. This can be bought from Gameco or any quality
knife making supply stores and will protect the blade from producing scale due to the oxygen in the
kiln. Place the blade in the envelope and seal by folding over the edges of the foil (also, you can put
a small piece of paper in the envelope to burn any oxygen that may be in the envelope). From there
you place the blade into the kiln and set the desired temperature and hold time.