Quote:
Originally Posted by JSMosby
I am no knife maker, but I do like to watch Forged in Fire. Some questions for the blade smiths:
1) Why is quenching the blade so hit and miss? It's always a scary event for the contestants.
2) When they quench the blade, they use a file to check for hardness. What are they doing to check hardness? Looks like they are just sliding a file across the blade.
The file is an old test for hardness. If the file is able to bite into the quenched piece, it is considered "soft". If the file skates off the piece it is considered "hard" and will most likely take and keep an edge.
3) What makes some of the blades brittle and break?
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The brittleness is determined by the type of steel, its temperature at quench, the temperature of the quench, and the type of quench solution. A dissimilar cross section of the blade as well as fractures placed in the blade during forging and direction of insertion often cause warping and breakage at quench.
Essentially, there are multiple points of potential failure along the way. Education paired with experience is key and sometimes, Hephaestus frowns.