Grinding Aeb-l pre-heat treatment

S

skillgannon

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Apr 27, 2009
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I have a piece of 48"x8" aeb-l that is .100 I think. I'm going to have to send it out for heat treatment. I have heard that there are a lot of problems with warping. How thin can I take it before I run into trouble?
 
What are you planning on making with it? Kitchen knives, i do all grinding post heat treat. for thicker stuff, I'll let the edge get to .04 or so. AEB-L is pretty easy to grind post HT, so if you are in doubt, profile, drill pin holes and send it off.
 
I also do all of my bevel grinding on AEB-L after heat treat. It's not that bad, and certainly better than trying to fix stubborn warps. Sharp ceramic belts and gators to finish with work well.
I even drill my holes after HT most times with kitchen knives now, using 4-flute carbide end mills. Works well for me, although everyone has their own methods.
 
Yes. I will profile the blades for sure. Lol. I am planning on kitchen knifes as well as some smallish drop point hunters.
 
On stainless steel 0.10" and up I'll grind pre heat treat. I take them down to 0.015" and send to Peter's Heat Treating. They've done a great job keeping them straight. On thinner steel I profile, drill and send out.
 
Salem Straub said:
I also do all of my bevel grinding on AEB-L after heat treat. It's not that bad, and certainly better than trying to fix stubborn warps. Sharp ceramic belts and gators to finish with work well.
I even drill my holes after HT most times with kitchen knives now, using 4-flute carbide end mills. Works well for me, although everyone has their own methods.
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Salem, how fast or slow do you run those end mills and what do you use for lubricant? I need to redrill a couple of hardened AEB-L blades and try to enlarge the lanyard hole on some .187 thick 3V blades. The latter task is the one that has me a bit worried.
 
For a 3/16" endmill I'm running probably 6-800 RPM (dialing in by ear with VFD, no tachometer) and dry. I imagine soluble oil would work well if you wanted coolant. That works great for AEB-L at 62 Rockwell, but with 3-V... IDK, I've not tried but it could be a bit tougher. Have you thought about using a carbide burr on the 3V lanyard holes?
 
I used to grind as much as possible pre-HT, but now I fall in line with all these experienced folks and grind after HT. It's just less pain.

Interesting note on drilling with end mills post-HT Salem. I'll have to try that.
 
It depends.

Some designs I can take it to almost finished and then send to heat treatment, such as these two. I always leave a flat surface so the plates can keep them flat.

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If I am doing a full flat grind or high hollow grind I will stop short and be sure to leave a flat, then finish grinding post heat treatment.

Also I only do tapering of the tang post heat treatment for the same reason.

I send mine to TruGrit, they get them dead flat and do not use a torch like other do to get them straight.
 
I use and have used AEB-L almost exclusively for the last couple years and while warpage has never been a MAJOR issue, scrapping just one blade due to warpage is money down the drain. Early on I would grind about 80% to final dimensions but would still get warps in each batch I had done. After losing too many blades due to this I began grinding scandi type grind pre heat treat leaving the majority of the blade unground and have never had a warped blade since. And while the amount of warped blades was not large in comparison to the total, even a small group can lead to thousands of dollars lost due to an avoidable issue. :)

I certainly wish AEB-L was not so prone to this, I would save a whole lot in abrasives. :eek:

Blessings,
Joshua
 
For making holes post heat treat, having a smaller diameter prehole will help endmill life, as even center cutting endmills have zero suface speed at the center, and the friction there will cause undue heat build up.

3v after ht, Uff da. Low rpm. .001 per rev. On the plus side, having an existing hole will help.
 
I've always liked either hirocs or square die drills for hardened steel. Run them fast and with a decent bit of quill pressure, and they'll happily drill through files and taps. I've drilled aeb-L at 60-61 with them with no trouble at all
 
I send all my AEBL to Peter's and love the results. I have taken my EDC edges to final thickness before (.01" or so even) and haven't had any warping issues. I have even ground 8" chef's knives to close to that and they have come back straight for me. It saves me a lot of hassle when I don't have to worry about ruining the temper when I'm hogging material off.
 
Good to know. I might give it a try. I am running low on 1084 so I need to start grinding something new. Havnt had a layoff in a long time. Gotta make blades when you can
 
I have been grinding aeb-l pre heat treat, tru grit has removed warps on the blanks from aks every time. I did have one chef knife get ripples, it was dangerously thin for ht.
Aeb-l isnt so bad grinding after ht, but like he said above, nice to be able to hog that material off quickly and not worry about ruining the temper. Im using .25" blanks so its nice to be able to move quickly.
 
This thread comes up first thing when googling about grinding aeb-l pre/post heat treat from google. Might still be relevant.
 
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