Best heat treating services?

J

JZknives

Joined
Feb 7, 2013
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I need to send off 2 440c knives for heat treat but can't find any lists on companies that do it. I would rather have somebody local do it(Baltimore county) but I don't know anybody who would do that.
 
Non-Locally I'll throw out Peterson's Heat Treating, who I use. They will do 20 blades for $100 and turnaround is about 2 weeks. Good people. Can't recall single blade prices, but I think it's like $10 per till you get to the multi-blade discounts.
 
That is Peter's HT...not Peterson's.

IIRC, The stickys have the info you want, as do threads about once a week. A search might have helped you.

Here is the Bladeforums search engine. Bookmark it.
https://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=011197018607028182644:qfobr3dlcra


BTW, since you have never filled out your profile with the requested info, we can't really give a well tailored answer because we have no idea where you live.
 
Short short version: large batch, Peters, small batch, tru grit. :)

Tru-Grit costs a bit more on larger batches, but costs a bit less on smaller. Any of the well known outlets seem to do a great job, but fewer seem to do well on onesey-twoseys.
 
Darrin Sanders here on the forums is still heat treating as far as I'm aware. Get with him on pricing and specs. He is excellent.

Tru-Grit will heat treat any blade steel for $10. They do discounts for batches. (ex. 8-10 blades $6 each) Cryo is $4 extra per blade.

Peters. They will HT any steel up to 20 blades for $100. This includes cryo and straightening, which I'm unsure if other companies do.

Texas Knifemakers Supply - Had them do some ATS-34 and it came back excellent. $8-$10 a blade. They only do air quenching steels.

Paul Bos - I've heard this guy's name since I was a kid. Unsure of any of his policies etc. May need to research.
 
Tru-Grit's service is done by Jeff Mutz, and I can confirm that he gives individual attention to each blade, straightening, etc. He's been active in knifemaking for almost 20 years, and does hundreds of blades a week, of all different steels. I trust his work.

I've done in the hundreds with him, and so far only have had one dud. Customer feedback has been good.

They try to make a good balance between catering to the hobbyist and pro, while I think Peters caters more to the pro. He also tries to keep turnaround very speedy, which can be nice.
 
I have dealt with both Peters and Bos. Both were good, Bos maybe better for a single blade, depending on the steel. If you REALLY care about it, maybe check with your prospective HT outfits about their specific regimen for 440c- Bos for instance will probably do a snap temper before cryo, which you may or may not want. You can research that as well.

I believe that Darrin stopped offering HT services a short time ago, but I hope that I am wrong about that- I'd consider him my first choice for HT on a single 440c blade.
 
I think very highly of Peter's HT.

I haven't tried everybody, but I have tried a few of the biggest names. I think that your reputation is probably safe with any of the reputable shops, but Peter's is more tailored towards high end performance and a general attitude of excellence. Cost is not a primary consideration in my shop, but considering how good they are, they're reasonably priced too.
 
Paul Bos. Paul Farner, to be specific.

He is the only guy/outfit who has never dropped the ball on me, ever. (not saying I've tried them all, just most of the big name professional services)

There's him, and then everyone else, in my book.
 
Josh & Salem, thanks for the endorsements. I did stop doing H/T a while back but I'm doing it again now but I only do oil hardening stuff. I'm an hours drive from a dry ice source so I had to stop doing anything that requires it.

I would not hesitate to send blades to any of the other guys mentioned above.
 
I'd like to throw in my 2 cents. I grind ats-34, 154cm, cpm154, 440c, and d2. None of these are oil quench steels and all but 1 are stainless. I started using Texas knife supply a few years ago because I only had a few blades at a time and my record is 9 blades at once. I make one of a kind knives so i'm not real fast or into production. They heat treat every Tuesday and are a bargain if you are doing less than a dozen blades. I get them in the mail by Thursday and they are done the next Tuesday and mailed by that Friday. Never a problem. They shoot for Rockwell 59 stainless steels and use a custom built computer controlled air quench set up that evacuates the air and floods the blades with nitrogen to quench them. I have been very satisfied and no problems. Their prices just went up to a little over $6.00 per blade and the shipping on 9 blades was a little over $13. They do not do any oil quench steels at all. I will investigate the prices and turn around times of the other recommended heat treat guys. They have great reputations for the most part according to forum comments. Larry Lehman
 
JZknives said:
How do you guys ship the knives?

Last time I did Pete's it cost like 100 bucks to ship
Click to expand...

Small USPS Flat rate boxes. If it fits, It ships! I take full advantage of this...lol.

When I do a batch of carbon steel knives I wash and degrease them, and get a long length of paper towel and roll all my blades up in it. Lay the blade in, fold over, repeat. I can usually fit like 30 or so small knives very comfortably in a USPS small flat rate box. It's heavy as hell, but it's $5.80 to ship, and it comes with $50 insurance included. Tape the box up super good.

Peters will stack all your knives up together and roll them up with a tight piece of saran wrap. That's how I get mine anyway.
 
I sent a big batch to Peter's here recently. Just got em back yesterday. 72 blades, 4 different steels. I shipped UPS and added insurance. Like $25-$30 or something if I remember right. not bad.
 
JZknives said:
Last time I did Pete's it cost like 100 bucks to ship
Click to expand...

Somethin' ain't right there. :eek:

Josh Mason said:
Small USPS Flat rate boxes. If it fits, It ships! I take full advantage of this...lol.

When I do a batch of carbon steel knives I wash and degrease them, and get a long length of paper towel and roll all my blades up in it. Lay the blade in, fold over, repeat. I can usually fit like 30 or so small knives very comfortably in a USPS small flat rate box. It's heavy as hell, but it's $5.80 to ship, and it comes with $50 insurance included. Tape the box up super good.

Peters will stack all your knives up together and roll them up with a tight piece of saran wrap. That's how I get mine anyway.
Click to expand...

Yup, I do basically the same except with newspaper instead of paper towel. I stamp each tang with the steel type and my initials, and separate each alloy in its own bundle. (sometimes I have 18 3V blades and 12 in CPM-154, or whatever)

Doesn't really matter if you use USPS boxes or not, if you take 'em to the PO and weigh 'em you get basically the same deal. There's no way a batch of blades should cost $100 to ship and insure both ways. Unless you've got half a pallet-load or something...
 
I use Tru Grit for heat treating. Their Knifemaker Jeff Mutz is a real knifemaker and has the experience and equipment to do it right.

I have used them for A2, D2, 440C, ATS 34, 1084, S35VN, W2 and the work has been great.

Give Jeff a call...He loves to talk :) and he will be more then happy to work with you.
 
I can get 40-50 blades in a little $~6 Regional Rate A or $12 Medium flat rate box.

I put all the blades together and if possible run all-thread through the tangs to bolt them into a block, then strap them down to a board. This is a pretty heavy block of steel, so having it strapped to a board prevents bent or damaged tips etc. I pack the box, filling most of the air space with packing foam to reduce movement. Then I 200% wrap the entire box with tape. My postal carrier is a vandal with anarchist tendencies.

It's important to segregate different steel types so there's not a mix up and the steel type ought to be stamped on the blade or tang in some way if you're sending a mix.

Blades should be clean with no finger oils on them, then you'll get very clean blades back.
 
JZknives said:
How do you guys ship the knives?

Last time I did Pete's it cost like 100 bucks to ship
Click to expand...


Where do you live? ... Oh, wait, I asked that before.

Shipping about 20 pounds of blades ( 50-60 knives) in a flat rate box with $500 insurance costs around $30.
 
I'll have to say I shipped a knife to Peter's that got lost in the mail for literally almost 2 months. The team at Peter's was relentless finding this thing for me. They tracked the thing down like a bloodhound and finally tracked it down and fought with the post office to make sure they got it either here or back to them come hell or high water so they could ship it back out fed ex. I couldn't have been more impressed with the level of service they offered.
 
Yeah, the number of times that Peter's has gone above and beyond for me is numerous. They really should receive some sort of industry award for excellence, no joke. If half my vendors were half as good...
 
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