Conner Michaux 173 Posted February 12 (edited) I have some old power hacksaw blades that I’ve been told are well over 80 years old, and I’ve also been told they could possibly be M2 high speed steel, I don’t know what that is or what the heat treat is like for it, all I know is that it can harden up to 64-67 Rockwell, and that sounds like some strong stuff, so I was wondering if one of the Metallurgy geniuses could give me some info on heat treating it? Its probably a really difficult heat treat but I might as well ask.Thanks. Edited February 12 by Conner Michaux Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jerrod Miller 314 Posted February 12 My advice: toss it in the recycle bin. Hardening per the ASM HTG: Pre-heat to 1350-1555 - soak to ensure even heat Quickly heat to 2175-2245 soak 2-5 min (short times for thin sections) Quench in oil, air, or salt HRC should be 64-66 Optional stabilization for delicate geometries: stress relieve at 300-320 briefly, cool below -150, temper immediately after parts heat back to room temp Double temper at least 2 hours per cycle, 1000-1100 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alex Middleton 306 Posted February 12 (edited) I've made several fillet knives from .040" thick M2 bandsaw blades. I've had really good luck with heating just the edge and using a water quench. I'm sure it's not optimal, but it hardens well and seems to temper fine and hold an edge as well. Edited February 12 by Alex Middleton Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Conner Michaux 173 Posted February 12 The the correct heat treat is definitely not gonna be happening until I get a kiln. Ill quench a few test pieces and see what happens though. Might as well experiment a little bit. Thanks for the advice. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Longmire 1,983 Posted February 12 10 hours ago, Alex Middleton said: M2 bandsaw You sure about that? M2 teeth on a nickel steel band, yes. M2 alone is not flexible enough to make the whole blade... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Conner Michaux 173 Posted February 12 Would pictures of the blades help? All I know for sure is that they are extremely old. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Longmire 1,983 Posted February 12 No, power hacksaw blades usually are HSS. I was talking about Alex's bandsaw blades. Unless yours have markings? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alex Middleton 306 Posted February 12 (edited) Now that you're making me think about it, I may be confusing our bandsaw blades with our end mills (don't wast your time trying to forge down an end mill ). I'll check in the morning. Edit: I called our saw guy. He pulled up the bandsaw blades we buy and they are listed as generic HSS. After some googling, I'm definitely thinking about the endmills when I referenced M2. Sorry about that Connor. Maybe you'll have better luck with that than I did. Edited February 12 by Alex Middleton Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doug Lester 202 Posted February 12 I agree with Jerrod, toss it in the recycle bin. Could be M2, or any other steel, could also mean that it's not M2 and you could spend a lot of time trying to figure out the heat treatment. Doug Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jerrod Miller 314 Posted February 13 Oh, actually, now that I think about it more, this might be prime material for specialty tooling. I'm thinking like gravers and broaches and such. Low risk personal tools. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Conner Michaux 173 Posted February 13 I can make a handle broach out of it, not a bad idea. I’ve been needing one anyway. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
