Heat Treat Question

singularity35

singularity35

Joined
Mar 1, 2010
Messages
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I often go to barbecues and grill parties and I cut and slice food that's just off the grill and still quite hot. Will this damage the heat treat on a blade? How much heat can a folder blade sustain without getting it's heat treat degraded?
 
singularity35 said:
I often go to barbecues and grill parties and I cut and slice food that's just off the grill and still quite hot. Will this damage the heat treat on a blade? How much heat can a folder blade sustain without getting it's heat treat degraded?
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I don't know the exact temps and times of heat treats, but spearing hot meat off of grills IMO is very far off from ruining the heat treat on your knife.

Time to hear from the experts.
 
cziv said:
I don't know the exact temps and times of heat treats, but spearing hot meat off of grills IMO is very far off from ruining the heat treat on your knife.

Time to hear from the experts.
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Depends on the steel I would imagine but a grill is a long ways off from damaging it the meat would be hot ashes by the time it was hot enough to maybe cause damage
 
FWIW, generally speaking, specific steels have their specific HT and quenching cycles. I suppose it would take prolonged exposure to very high heat rather than just grill-top or stove-top temps to significantly alter the blade's microstructure.

In fact I might be even more concerned with the handle material first "warping" because of the heat (i.e. - plastics or FRN handles) though that itself maybe remote.
 
I wouldn't worry about it. While the grill may be extremely hot, the meat itself should be under 200F in most cases. Even then you're probably not leaving it in contact with the meat long enough to cause any damage.
 
singularity35 said:
I often go to barbecues and grill parties and I cut and slice food that's just off the grill and still quite hot. Will this damage the heat treat on a blade? How much heat can a folder blade sustain without getting it's heat treat degraded?
Click to expand...

Cutting hot meat, even while on the grill... not even close.

Generally, you'd have to subject the blade to greater than 300F for a while to even approach tempering temps. (typically they are 400F and up for an extended period of time, minutes+)

Having said that, if you use power tools (e.g. a motorized grinder) to sharpen a knife, if the steel discolors, you are too close to tempering temp, and mighta already heated it to the point of lowering the hardness... but this is usually only a problem with the blade tip.
 
I've wondered the same thing. I used to grill with my neighbor and he'd borrow my knife to cut the chicken on the grill to make sure it was cooked through.
 
singularity35 said:
I often go to barbecues and grill parties and I cut and slice food that's just off the grill and still quite hot. Will this damage the heat treat on a blade? How much heat can a folder blade sustain without getting it's heat treat degraded?
Click to expand...

The short answer is No.

On the other hand, knife manufacturers like Shun advise against putting bladeware thru dishwashers - even though they are labelled 'dishwasher safe'. No-one has explained the reasoning behind this to my satisfaction but I certainly have no incentive to test for myself
 
antonio_luiz said:
The short answer is No.

On the other hand, knife manufacturers like Shun advise against putting bladeware thru dishwashers - even though they are labelled 'dishwasher safe'. No-one has explained the reasoning behind this to my satisfaction but I certainly have no incentive to test for myself
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Because a dishwasher uses abrasives spraying around at high speed that will dull and scar the blade and the heat could cause epoxies in the handle to loosen. It's not because the temps are hot enough to affect heat treat.
 
antonio_luiz said:
The short answer is No.

On the other hand, knife manufacturers like Shun advise against putting bladeware thru dishwashers - even though they are labelled 'dishwasher safe'. No-one has explained the reasoning behind this to my satisfaction but I certainly have no incentive to test for myself
Click to expand...

The only dishwashers I have are my left and my right hands. :D

PS: thanks for the short and sweet answer.
 
antonio_luiz said:
The short answer is No.

On the other hand, knife manufacturers like Shun advise against putting bladeware thru dishwashers - even though they are labelled 'dishwasher safe'. No-one has explained the reasoning behind this to my satisfaction but I certainly have no incentive to test for myself
Click to expand...


The reason they recommend against putting it into a dish washer is because the harsh soap's can dull and scratch a blade. It's also much easier to just wipe it down with soapy water and a sponge, takes less time too.
 
knifenut1013 said:
The reason they recommend against putting it into a dish washer is because the harsh soap's can dull and scratch a blade. It's also much easier to just wipe it down with soapy water and a sponge, takes less time too.
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Yep. Some soaps act like micro-abrasions to clean. Definitely don't want to dull those delicate sharp edges.
 
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