A2 tool steel

[Roy Steele]

I uselly make a couple knives every year between deer and turkey seasons. I've got 2 knives I've been working on and I'm ready to harden and temper. My first ones out of A2.
 Anyone tell me how they harden there's I only have a kitchen oven. So I need a temp and time.

[Jeremy]

Stock reduction?

Borrowed protocol:
A2 is an air hardening steel.  The get the most out of it, you'd first need to relieve all the stress from forging/grinding by heating it to 1200 F, hold it there for a few hours then slowly cool it to below 900 F.  Impossible to do w/o a heat treating oven.

To harden you need to heat it up to 1750 F, let it soak for 20-30 minutes, then quench in air.  Temper at 400 F for 2x 1-2hour cycles for a ~60Rc.

To get the most out of the steel send it to someone with a nice heat treating oven.  You can do everything yourself with a forge and kitchen oven, but you'll have to pay attention to the steel colors (a magnet is useless at those temperatures) and the long soak is near impossible if you don't have a temperature controlled forge.  W/o the long soak you'll still get a decent knife.