Heat treat before or after beveling?

R

RobMofSD

Joined
Nov 3, 2022
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Hey all, so I have a basic shapping done. I am drilling for handles. I want to send my very first attempts IN MY LIFE for heat treat. But do I grind in the bevels before or after. I am reading both.

Metals - 1095 and AEB-L.
Equipment - 2x72 grinder for grinding and a TRM jig (and a water bucket)

What do you suggest? What do you do? Why?

I have searched but trying to get a solid read... and being told both.

Thanks all from a complete novice!
 
AEB L would best be done after heat treat. I see a lot of threads here about it warping. No personal experience with stainless, though.

As far as plain 10xx steels, I've never had an issue grinding down to around .020 at the edge and then heat treating.
 
Hengelo_77 said:
Since it is your first do it pre ht
Click to expand...

I'm a contrarian by nature, and I'm going to say the opposite.....
Send them out for hardening. Make sure you put hardware holes in before.


Yes, it takes longer to grind hardend blades.
It also is more forgiving when you do something wrong.

I hand grind my blades. You Will make mistakes Faster with Soft steel.

another way to look at it is..... the more you grind. The better you will get.
 
Since you are just starting, a couple of tips: Drill the holes for the handle with an oversize drill bit (e.g., size F for 1/4" hardware) and chamfer them.

If your stock is 0.08" or thinner, I'd say grind everything after HT. If it's over 0.125", I'd grind a bit before HT.

At the first sign of the AEB-L warping when you grind it, stop everything you are doing and make yourself a carbide peening hammer. On second thought, while you wait for your blanks to come back from HT, make yourself a carbide peening hammer. You will be glad you did.
 
I basically work in two different steels like you are doing, AEB-L and 26C3. I do all my bevel grinding on AEB-L post heat treat and my bevel grinding on my high carbon steel the 26C3 pre heat treat. I use to grind the AEB-L pre heat treat but post is better. Its bendy pre heat treat.
 
I will say that one benefit of some Pre-HT grinding is it can give you some "free" practice. Just do enough of the grind to get a good start on it and you can always clean up after HT. Plus, this saves money (in general) on belts. As long as you leave AEBL the thickness of a dime or better, I've never had trouble with warps. I will recommend quenching AEBL between 2 flat plates to keep it straight. Without that, warps can be an issue pre-ground or not.

P.S. The above applies to stock 1/8" and thicker.....under that, I do everything post HT because the material removal is already minor.
 
I personally do my grinds pre-heat treat (Unless it's very thin, like a full flat grind on a kitchen knife. Only because the edge can bacon when it gets too thin.).

Even with a Kool Mist setup I still just prefer the absolute peace of mind knowing that I am never screwing up my temper. If I get too hot during my grind pre-heat treat, the stress relief step will fix it.

I plate quench scandi, saber, and full flat grinds with no issues. In fact this should actually cause your edge area to cool faster than if you didn't grind, if I'm not mistaken.

Aside from very very thin edges like I said, you should not have warping issues when oil quenching. If you are, either you aren't doing a stress relief before HT, or you are grinding it WAY too hot!
 
if you have a 2x72 then I personally think that bevelling hardened steel is the answer. The only reason that I can think of to do it when the steel's soft, is because hand tools are the only option. That's how I used to do it, and now that I have a proper grinder most of the bevelling is done on hardened steel. I prefer grinding hardened steel, it's less sticky against the belt and just gives better feedback, (which probably doesn't matter as much if you're using a jig).
 
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