Air Hardening Steels Warp?

C

Citori

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Joined
Sep 28, 2002
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I've read a few posts about leaving the edge thick, or with no bevel at all, to prevent warping during heat treat. Do you do this for air hardening steels as well or just with quenched ones?

I ask because I've been playing around with making a few knives and I have been using mostly A2 and D2. Since I don't yet have my grinder built (I've been using a bench grinder with a stone wheel and some handheld files) it takes me a relatively long time to remove any metal from a hardened blade so I want to get the edge as thin as possible before HT.

The last few knives I have made have had progressively thinner edges but I have stopped short of putting the actual bevel on them until they are hard.
 
So far I have only had one blade warp at the blade section. That was my fault by being careless in getting it to the quench. I have had some tangs warp and that is easily correctable. I have treated D2 at about 1850 F. and other types up to about 1965 F. and like my edges ground to between about 12 and 18 thousanths before heat treat. With proper placement in the oven and careful handling during and before quench you should have no noticable warp caused by grinding the bevel or having an adequately thin edge.

Roger
 
If you have a problem of warping with either A2 or D2 you may minimize it by a stress relief anneal at 1200-1300F, before hardening. Supporting the blade uniformly at hardening temperature and quenching it vertically will also minimize warping.
 
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