Blade won't sharpen after HT

C

CoryS

Joined
Apr 23, 2020
Messages
23
Hey guys, I sent a 01 and a 1095 blade off for HT. The 1095 won't sharpened up.lile a razor, but even after removing 1/4th of the edge I can't get the 01 blade to hold any kind of edge. It burs up fine, but then just stays so dull I can run it down my hand.

I guess the heat treat was done improperly. Is there anything I can do to fix it? I have a lot of time and money put in on this blade, scales are epoxied on, and even have a leather sheath made haha.
 
The heat treat may very well be bad, but that may not be your problem. I can get a 90 degrees mild steel edge very sharp. It won't hold the edge very well though.

Maybe you aren't getting rid of the burrs effectively?
 
I can sharpen a piece of brass to a sharp cutting edge. It wont last. I've shaved my arm with rail spike knives I've made. Are you sharpening on a belt grinder or with stones or a combination?
 
Vincent Price said:
I can sharpen a piece of brass to a sharp cutting edge. It wont last. I've shaved my arm with rail spike knives I've made. Are you sharpening on a belt grinder or with stones or a combination?
Click to expand...

I started with a belt grinder, I gave up moved to stones. On a stone I can almost get a working edge, but no more. Slides right over my beard. There is no hint of a bur anywhere either by feel or by magnification.

I've never in my life had this much trouble sharpening a blade, I got it's near identical sister knife to hair whitling sharpness in 15 minutes on the grinder and strop.
 
CoryS said:
I started with a belt grinder, I gave up moved to stones. On a stone I can almost get a working edge, but no more. Slides right over my beard. There is no hint of a bur anywhere either by feel or by magnification.

I've never in my life had this much trouble sharpening a blade, I got it's near identical sister knife to hair whitling sharpness in 15 minutes on the grinder and strop.
Click to expand...

Are you sure you are getting past the apex?
 
Thanks guys, you made me think past it being a heat treat issue and I slept on it. I decided the bevels could be a bit thick and did a 10° convex grind, with a 22° micro bevel. That sharpened it up nicely.

It never occurred to me before the bevel size would matter as long as it was apexing, or maybe I just finally ground through some decarb steel ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
As mentioned, the steel doesn't need to be very hard to be shaving sharp but it just won't the edge.

In the future you can also try the sharpie trick: use a sharpie marker to color the blade to the edge. If you are not apexing the very edge, you'll see it's still black from the sharpie. Technically you should be able to feel the burr along the entire edge but everybody's fingers are equally sensitive.
 
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