Company heat treat vs custom heat treat

noob93 said:
All very valid points you have and I must agree I wouldn't expect a production company to risk thousands of dollars for a little extra. What makers are you talking about specifically?
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Certain makers and companies get a lot of praise for the quality of their product, some specifically for the evident quality of the HT-protocol.

Paul Bos' protocols are used by Buck Knives, their HT of 420HC and 154CM and some others is highly praised.

Dozier is praised for D2.

Busse is praised for S7 (modified to SR77), 52100 (modified to SR101), and their proprietary INFI.

Nathan (the Machinist) Carothers (CPK) developed a revised protocol for CPM-3V with collaboration from Dan Keffeler and Guy Seiferd (Survive! GSO).

Phil Wilson works with a lot of different steels and gives his knives geometry meant to bring out the best.

A lot of other customer-makers just send their knives into someone like Peters' HT for that part and, as was said, they get consistently good results.

If you are ever interested in something really crazy, there is a maker called bluntcut (Luong La) who uses a specialized HT-protocol to do incredible things with steels from 1095 to CPM-10V, pushing the boundaries of Rc-hardness (strength) while also providing MORE toughness. We are talking about CPM-10V up to 68 Rc and ground to 0.01" BTE and only experiencing minor chipping when batonned through a 16D nail :eek: His protocol on 3V has produced >63 Rc, AEB-L at 64Rc, and he has tested it on many other steels as well, and publishes his results in photos and videos. He's crazy (and/or wicked smart) and pushes the boundaries of what a steel can do like no one else I've ever come across.
http://www.bluntcutmetalworks.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/MyThoTanLong/videos
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/member.php/317348-bluntcut
 
Very debatable comment there Chiral as I have my own feedback to that...

The BOS Heat Treatment is no doubt consistent but on 420HC you'll get opinions from people who wouldn't praise that steel so highly if it didn't have the Edge 2X geometry.And what people think of Buck's 420HC in their old edge geometry in obtainable sharpness and edge retention versus the Edge 2X version.On that note plenty of production knife companies that did great heat treatments...

*Best performance from S30V I got was from Lone Wolf Knives...hardened their steel to 62rc.Great steel but seems to chip easily to anything hard it contacts...a machete or log splitter would be awful for this steels application.

*Schrade USA,Imperial Knives USA,and Camillus all did excellent work with 1095 and 440A coming in at 57-59rc...it depended on who's edge profile you liked more apart from design.

*REKAT Knives:
They hardened their ATS-34 by Hitachi Metals 59-61rc in hardness which I like over S30V as it's a more industrial grade of steel.

A good while back I was tempted to get a small production ARS knife by Alex Shunnarah who used BG-42 treated to 62rc.As he stated in a phone conversation when he wore the blade dull he wished he treated at 59-60rc because in his words 'it was tough as piss to get an edge back on it that steel was so hard'.Call me a company man.
 
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I'll throw in my .02 even though I'm very new I love researching things.
Like it been said it depends. I've seen makers HT 1095 like its 1084 (big no no) alot if makers that do stock removal will send their blades off for HT to professional companies that are very good at HT. It gets expensive but it's worth it because their is no doubt about the HT, you KNOW it's gonna be top notch.
Notable knife makers that have got the most out of their steel and kind of "set the standard " so to speak:
Dozier and his d2
Ed Cafferty and 52100
Devin Thomas and AEBL
Nathan the machinest and 3v

And I'm sure there are more. Best thing to do is talk to the maker. Pick their brain a little bit. And do some research yourself on a steel you like to find out what works and what doesn't and if that maker falls in line with that.
There's ALOT that goes into HT alot of science and metallurgy that you have to know.
 
55HRC for 1095 is stupid low ? i do not think so. my ONTARIO machetes atcs really good in yard work.



production company dare not to HTed their knife to higher HRC, cause the knives production company made &sell are cheaper , cheaper knives cost less and make lots people to use their knives hard .

so there is a risk that production company do there HT to a higher HC.
 
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