First Blades Back From Heat Treat Need Advice

CDHumiston

CDHumiston

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Feb 17, 2009
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OK, I got on here 6 months or so back and asked a lot of questions about getting started in knife making. I got a lot of help and some great answers.

I finally finished profiling and grinding 6 different blades so I could have more than 1 to send out for heat treat. I only ruined 1. The other 5 just got back from heat treating at Texas Knife and they all came back fine. No warping, cracking, etc...

All the blades are ground down to the recommended "Dime" thickness at the edge. They were all hand sanded to 600 grit prior to heat treat. I'm using a VS KMG Grinder and have belts from 40 grit down to 16 Microns. The steels I used are D2, A2, and 440C all are Flat Ground.

My questions are 1) What grit belt do I use now to get the finished edge on the blades? 2) Do I grind the edge at final sharpening angle?

Thanks for all the help and encouragement so far!
 
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Bump for some answers....and yes I already did a search, read about 50 posts, found some more good info, but not what I need.
 
I usually only taake mine to a 400 grit belt finish before H/T,But then start again with a 400 grit belt then 600 grit belt then hand sand.Also take the edge down to about .010
Finish the knife and then sharpen.
Stan
 
SBuzek said:
I usually only taake mine to a 400 grit belt finish before H/T,But then start again with a 400 grit belt then 600 grit belt then hand sand.Also take the edge down to about .010
Finish the knife and then sharpen.
Stan
Click to expand...

Thanks Stan
 
Finish and then sharpen, X2. I sharpen with a 160 then 400 gator, then 600 and 1000 stones, then strop. Hair poppin!
 
I onley gring up to 220 grit befor heat treating. And that's to reduce stress risers. Then after heat treat I hit it with a real warn out 50 or 60 grit blaze belt to get rid of any scale or decarb. Then I go to 220 and the 400 gator and then 600 gator. That's about where I stop most of the time. I then put the edge on with a 220 grit belt and then gro straight to the paper wheels which make it sharper than you could ever imagen.
 
JTknives said:
I onley gring up to 220 grit befor heat treating. And that's to reduce stress risers. Then after heat treat I hit it with a real warn out 50 or 60 grit blaze belt to get rid of any scale or decarb. Then I go to 220 and the 400 gator and then 600 gator. That's about where I stop most of the time. I then put the edge on with a 220 grit belt and then gro straight to the paper wheels which make it sharper than you could ever imagen.
Click to expand...

I have the paper wheel set up and I love it. I also have some Gator belts. There is really no scale on the blades so I think I can skip the heavier grits.

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to hit one of the blades tomorrow and see how it goes...
 
cdhumiston said:
I have the paper wheel set up and I love it. I also have some Gator belts. There is really no scale on the blades so I think I can skip the heavier grits.

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to hit one of the blades tomorrow and see how it goes...
Click to expand...

You know I hear about people using the gator bts for there edge and I don't know how I feel about it. In my experance the gator belts don't leave a nice crisp grind line. So when used one the edge I would just imagen it would kinda roll it all into one. But I have not tryied it so I reall can't say.
 
Those blades look fairly smooth, looks like a good application for a scotch-bright belt.
I start my edge bevel with a 220 J-flex.
 
bikermikearchery said:
Those blades look fairly smooth, looks like a good application for a scotch-bright belt.
I start my edge bevel with a 220 J-flex.
Click to expand...

The blades are very smooth, I hand sanded them down to 600 prior to heat treat. Four of them have nice thin edges already, the one in the picture is about the thickness of a dime or maybe a penny. I think it needs a little more grinding.

Thanks for the comments and advice...
 
Still looking for methods used by the makers here...Thanks for the resonses so far.
 
I finally got around to cleaning one of the knives I made up a little and I put an edge on it. This small knife was made because I had a little piece of D2 left over and didn't want to throw it out. It is 4" x 1"

The edge grinding went well, I can get a nice shave with it and I have not sharpened it with anything other than a 15 micron belt yet.

I still have some more polishing to do then I am going to start on one of the larger knives.

Thanks for all the input.
 

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sixth_sense said:
wow, that little one is looking really good. What tool(s) did you use to cut out that finger grip hole?
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I started out with the largest drill bit I could find. Then I reamed it out with a dremel tool and a carbide cutter bit. When it was big enough I finished it up and smoothed it out with a dremel 1/2 " sanding drum. It took a while, but it worked out good.
 
You said you hand sanded to 600 befrore heat treat. you could go to 400 and then work up also you want tp know what angle ide say 20 degree s is about right unless they are kitchen knives then 15 to 17 degrees for sharpening.
 
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