Edge thickness before HT

G

Glenn

Joined
Jan 13, 1999
Messages
91
Can somebody please post a list of how thick to leave edges prior to heat treat vs orginal thickness and steel type? I have seen bits and pieces of this info here and there but a list would be handy.

I will assemble a list out of all the replies here and make it available in Word or Excel format if somebody else would like this information as well.

I have a potential first knife (looks good so far) out of 1/8 440C and I am not sure how thick to leave the edge. I thought I would ask about the other thickness for future reference.

Regards,
Glenn
 
On Allen Blade's flat grind video, he says that he takes the edge to 40 thousandths before HT, then to 20 thousanths after... so that's what I'm shooting for!

Ryan

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For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:23


 
I suspect there as many opinions on this as there are knifemakers. Here's mine:

I take the blade as close to the final edge thickness as possible. The reasons are twofold. Anything you do to the edge after heat treating risks overheating it and damaging the temper. While your thumbs may not be burning up in the middle of the blade, the thin steel at the edge heats up quickly and might be a lot hotter than you think.

The second reason is specific to my knives. I round over the edge, a little before heat treating then more after, as a part of shaping the edge for the final bevel. So my edges start out thicker than most (maybe that 0.040" that Allen recommends) before heat treating and remains a little thicker (0.025-0.030") after heat treating due to the way I shape it. Small hunters and utilities are more like 0.020. Even so, I remove very little steel after heat treating, it is mostly smoothing only.

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Jerry Hossom
www.hossom.com
 
I am on the same track with GAKnife
something you should also take into
consideration is what kind of steel
you are useing,get your blade as clase to finish before you send to heat treat,a heat
treated blade is another beast than a non treated one.The more you have to grind of after heat treat the more chance you have at heating one up and all your work has been in vein.
 
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