AST 34

[bowtarist]

I've made a couple hand fulls of knives, mostly reduced old flat files, but the father-in-law's Buddy gave me a piece of 1 1/2" X 1/8" X nearly 16 1/2" AST 34 and I'm not fimiliar with working this material.  I can cut it, I can hammer it, reduce, obviously, but what do any of you  think might be the berries for this pcs. of steel?  I've got some iders, but was just wondering.  sorry no pic.

dpg

[DennisM]

ATS34 is a high grade stainless.  It's a great knife steel, I use it a lot.  You need a kiln to heat treat, requires a long heat soak.  When done right it holds a edge longer than any steel I've used

Dennis

[bowtarist]

DM, you got details of temps and times for the heat treating process?  Is it expensive?  Should I use it sparingly for several small knives or work a big one up and use the scrap for smaller one?  Just wondering.  Thanks for your time, dpg

[DennisM]

Google Texas Knife Supply, they offer a heat treating service.  I heat treat my carbon steel blades but a friend does my SS.  There are several recepes on the web. They are all similar
Soak at 1850-1950 deg for 30-60 min to harden
Air or oil quench
700-900 deg for 1 hr to temper

[bowtarist]

DANG!!!  that's pretty darn hot.  thanks, i'll look into it further. dpg