Scottish Late 18th Century Blade - Tempered?

kronckew · 15th December 2018, 10:43 AM

You are again confusing heat treatment's HARDENING phase with tempering.

Hardening is done from the critical temperature where the steel is no longer magnetic, it varies on the steel composition a bit, 800 is just an approximation.

Tempering is indeed done at a much lower temperature in the range you mentioned to relieve brittleness and give a softer but tougher structure as a final phase.

Using the term 'Tempering' to cover both phases is inaccurate. Differential heat treating where a blade is hardened at the edge and self tempered at the spine is a technique used by some experienced bladesmiths mostly with varying results.

The live slave thing is of course a myth, but corpses would be readily available.

15th December 2018, 10:43 AM	#7
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,227	You are again confusing heat treatment's HARDENING phase with tempering. Hardening is done from the critical temperature where the steel is no longer magnetic, it varies on the steel composition a bit, 800 is just an approximation. Tempering is indeed done at a much lower temperature in the range you mentioned to relieve brittleness and give a softer but tougher structure as a final phase. Using the term 'Tempering' to cover both phases is inaccurate. Differential heat treating where a blade is hardened at the edge and self tempered at the spine is a technique used by some experienced bladesmiths mostly with varying results. The live slave thing is of course a myth, but corpses would be readily available.