A couple heat treating/outsourcing questions

J

js19

Joined
Feb 25, 2015
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13
Hey guys, now that I have all my tools and my steel is almost here, my last challenge is finding a place to heat treat it, as I bought 1095 and 5160, and I heard that's hard to heat treat and oil is $$$$ I definitely don't want to attempt it myself, so for my first few knives here i'll be sending it out. I'm about to build a small forge like seen in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bunCG6W6dA. Would really appreciate some advice on the forge thing as well. I want something small and sturdy like that, with something easy/convenient to use as an insulator. Anyway, on to the steel.


I've been trying to find a place close to me that will heat treat my blades, but most of them seem to only do heat treating for bigger automotive/aerospace companies ect, doing big batches at a time while I only want 4-5 blades done.


I live in Southeastern Michigan, so I guess my question is this - Is there anyone in the area that knows a good place that I can get my heat treatment done? If not, is there a place where I can ship out a few blades at a time, and get them heat treated for a decent price? Also, what would you say the average is for heat treatment of say 1 blade, and 5 blades? I haven't been able to get a decent quote yet. What do you guys do?




Thanks again everyone, you've been extremely helpful so far and I really appreciate it.


Some might think that possibly, the community would be "NO DON'T MAKE KNIVES WE DON'T WANT YOU TO STEAL OUR BUSINESS. DEY TOOK AR JERBS". But it couldn't be further from the truth, you guys are more then encouraging and helpful. Again, thank you.
 
You're looking at about 10 bucks apiece plus shipping. If he's still doing it, Darrin Sanders does a fantastic job with good turn around.
 
Thanks man, I contacted him just waiting for a reply now.

Anyone on the other questions? Like whats a good beginner steel thats easy to work with and I can heat treat myself? Also any forge tips/tutorials for one like seen in the video? I saw the coffee can forge insulated with perilite and some other stuff, but I don't want to have to mix all those chemicals, what else can I use?


Thanks
 
I can't help you with the forge stuff, but as for the steel, your top answer is going to be 1084.
 
jwesthurl said:
You're looking at about 10 bucks apiece plus shipping. If he's still doing it, Darrin Sanders does a fantastic job with good turn around.
Click to expand...

Wow, I was quoted nearly $30 each from another place that was highly recommended here. Would love to know if Darrin is still doing this as well.
 
I am about as new of a newb as it gets so take this with that in mind. I just finished up my two brick forge and the only advice I would offer is to skip the torch and build a burner (unless you already have one to do the trick). For roughly the same money you will get far better performance with a burner. I built mine with 1/2" pipe instead of 3/4" that most use and for the size forge you are wanting it seems to be more than plenty. Also, don't try to get by with a low pressure regulator, it won't work... go ahead, ask me how I know....

 
Nice forge man, I noticed a two brick forge like that in one of Goughs videos, I'm definitely going to build one like that asap. Can you give me an example of a burner that you would use/do use instead of a torch?


Thanks man
 
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