Hey guys, so I've got my first batch of knives almost ready for heat treatment but I have a couple of rookie questions for you guys. First off, let me show the pieces I've been working on:
I've just ground these out of 440c, 1/16 for the kitchen knives and 1/8 for the hunting knives. I've ground the blades down to about .020 which I'm hoping is about right for heat treat, but I'm not sure if I should be going thicker or thinner than that. I know I should be trying to make it uniform thickness all the way down, but what tolerence are we talking here? I think on some I'm around .022 on the thick parts and .018-.019 on the thinner portions. Is this too big of a variance? What grit finish should I be sending it off with for heat treating, the blades themselves are currently fresh off a 400 grit belt, and the tangs are raw from the 50.
So the second part of my post is: Is there anyone in the Phoenix Area who knows knife making well and would be able to take a look at my blades in person and offer any advice you might have? And as a follow up to that, are there any good heat treating options locally here in Phoenix? I'd much rather have somewhere I can chat with someone about what I'm doing right and wrong. Currently I'm trying to get a batch of 8 or so blades to send off to Texas Knife Supply for heat treat, but it would be useful if there was a place locally with I could bring my blades to and have them gone over in case there's anything I need to redo or touch up that I don't know about yet.
Thanks for everyone's help on here so far though! I haven't posted yet, but the only reason I'm as far as I am is because of you guys and some youtubers who are undoubtedly on here as well (Walter Sorrels and Gough Customs among others)
I've just ground these out of 440c, 1/16 for the kitchen knives and 1/8 for the hunting knives. I've ground the blades down to about .020 which I'm hoping is about right for heat treat, but I'm not sure if I should be going thicker or thinner than that. I know I should be trying to make it uniform thickness all the way down, but what tolerence are we talking here? I think on some I'm around .022 on the thick parts and .018-.019 on the thinner portions. Is this too big of a variance? What grit finish should I be sending it off with for heat treating, the blades themselves are currently fresh off a 400 grit belt, and the tangs are raw from the 50.
So the second part of my post is: Is there anyone in the Phoenix Area who knows knife making well and would be able to take a look at my blades in person and offer any advice you might have? And as a follow up to that, are there any good heat treating options locally here in Phoenix? I'd much rather have somewhere I can chat with someone about what I'm doing right and wrong. Currently I'm trying to get a batch of 8 or so blades to send off to Texas Knife Supply for heat treat, but it would be useful if there was a place locally with I could bring my blades to and have them gone over in case there's anything I need to redo or touch up that I don't know about yet.
Thanks for everyone's help on here so far though! I haven't posted yet, but the only reason I'm as far as I am is because of you guys and some youtubers who are undoubtedly on here as well (Walter Sorrels and Gough Customs among others)