heat treat and edge question

G

gaspassah

Joined
Feb 13, 2009
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i have 4 knives in vary stages of completeness and the next step is heat treating...
the question is... how much of an edge (sharpness) is put on the blade prior to heat treat.. i assume the thinner the edge the easier to sharpen after heat treat... but does this open up the possibility for the edge to warp during ht?
thanks,
david
 
David,

It depends on the type of steel you are using and what type of heat treat process you are performing. Can you provide this info?
 
i have 2 that are ats34 and 2 that are 154cm... these were blanks i got from usaknifemakers.com....i havent decided on heat treat yet... i'm still torn as to try it myself,,,homemade forge or send out and i'm leaning send out...
 
Both those steels will need a high degree of temperature control in an electronic oven for HT. If you do not have this type of equipment i'd send them out for HT to someone like Paul Bos. Using a professional HT service, you should be able to take these blades to near final edge thickness. With that being said, I personally would take these steels to ~.020 prior to HT. That has worked well for me.
 
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thanks for the reply..that sealed the deal on outsourcing heat treat...once the finer details are completed i plan on sending to paul bos... i hope i end up with some quality stuff that i can show here... quality of the work i see here is intimidating...
 
would definitely leave atleast a 1/16" left on the edge (or more) prior to heat treat. Don't sharpen anything even slightly as that could cause WARPING! :)
 
Paul Bos tells you to take it right on down to the point you could sharpen it, with those steels mentioned. With 01, I take them to about .015, to 020. Any warp I get involves the full width, and not just the edge.
 
depends a lot on your cross section geometry... both alloys you are using are pretty stable in quench and can be taken to final edge thickness (but not sharpened) in normal length blades with normal cross sections. By normal i mean something like a saber grind, 8" or less with thickness 1/8" or more
 
LRB is correct I use 154 cm and D-2 exclusively. I grind all my blades to a pair of scribed lines that measure .020 , symetrical grinds are key to preventing warpage. Inspect the blades closely. Are the grinds exactly the same on both sides? Look down the spine, is it straight? Hollow , flat or saber grind same rules apply.
 
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