Chefs knife heat treating question

C

Coop113

Joined
Nov 10, 2014
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So i ordered the material to make my first chefs knife. My plan is to make a classic 8in western style knife. I will be using 2"x.093" 1095 steel and have a few questions:

1.) I will be using hand files and a jig to bevel my blade. So would i be better off to bevel and then send to heat treat(plan to send to peters) or does that greatly increase my risk of warping since the the material is so thin?

2.) If I heat treated before beveling would it be nearly impossible to do with a hand file?
 
Cannot file after HT. You can grind with abrasives after HT, assuming you utilize the proper techniques to avoid overheating the blade. Make sure you leave the proper edge thickness and you should be fine, of course there is always a risk of warpage but that's part of the game. The best way to mitigate that risk is to use Peters' ht, because Brad is a wizard.
 
That is not true. The late John White make a smallish dagger out of W2 that the draw filed after it was hardened so that he could get it exactly right. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but he may have told me that he also did that on his MS test dagger. He just trashed a couple of files in the process. You can't draw file a kitchen knife down to the final thickness above the edge before heat treatment. I probably wouldn't even try that with salt pots.
pwheeler said:
Cannot file after HT. You can grind with abrasives after HT, assuming you utilize the proper techniques to avoid overheating the blade. Make sure you leave the proper edge thickness and you should be fine, of course there is always a risk of warpage but that's part of the game. The best way to mitigate that risk is to use Peters' ht, because Brad is a wizard.
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Maybe you can shape with files post-HT but I don't have the patience for that. Someone once said part of making blades is learning how to straighten blades :). I haven't had warp issues with 3/32" blades so far.
 
A part that you eventually learn is how to reduce the incidence of them warping. ;)
zhyla said:
Maybe you can shape with files post-HT but I don't have the patience for that. Someone once said part of making blades is learning how to straighten blades :). I haven't had warp issues with 3/32" blades so far.
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For a beginner (I'm making an assumption, he said first chef's knife) who is outsourcing heat treat, telling him to file post-HT is ridiculous. File to recommended edge thickness, sand to 220 or finer, send to Brad, finish sand, done. You might not be able to go quite as thin as you want behind the edge, but you have to do your best within the system you have. Brad will straighten it should it warp. If it cracks, oh well. Another blade is cheaper than the shoulder surgery you will need if you try to hand file a full flat grind on an 8" chef's knife after HT. Would it be better to treat the un-beveled blank for avoiding warpage? Sure. Does it make sense for someone without the equipment to grind post-ht? Not even a little bit.
 
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