Heat Treating/ The Best/The Cheapest

T

tom mayo

Joined
Jan 27, 1999
Messages
6,277
I have posted this many, many times...but the subject keeps coming up...and I am not trying to strongarm anyone...I know many of you do your own, that is fine, and many of you have a friend do it, or you are friends with the people who do. that is my case in point...Paul Bos/1900 Weld Blvd/El Cajon Calif 92020....is my friend. He has been heat treating my stuff for almost 18 years.. He has the BEST equipment..He cryos EVERY blade....no EXTRA charge, part of the h/t, and he straightens warped blades...and he does all this for $60 for a batch of 20... thats $3 each folks.....NO ONE comes close to his price. He has been in the heat treating business for over 25 years. He heat treats all of the tool and die stuff for Buck Knives.....just a plug for my friend who does excellent work at a GREAT price. aloha.

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http://www.mayoknives.com


 
Tom,
You're right. You seemed almost apologetic about suggesting Paul Bos, but there's no reason to. Even those of us who do our own heat treating, know of and respect Paul and his work. He's been around for a long time and serves many top name makers. That in itself say's a lot. Those prices really do sound good too.
 
Paul has been doing our heat treating for about 10 years now. He is the BEST. You cannot go wrong with using him for your heat treating.

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Barry
Jones Knives

Do you hear that?
That is the sound of inevitability.
 
Right on Tom. I think so much of Paul that I carry his business cards with me to shows. I honestly don't think people really know what ATS-34 is until they've had some treated by Paul. I used to do my own, cryo treatment and all. His steel outperforms what I did 10 to 1.

I have 42 blades on the way to him at this very moment. He recently did a batch of A2 and CPM-3V blades for me and I have to say, he made me a believer in these steels. The CPM-3V is amazing. Everytime I read about some ATS-34 knife not performing well, it makes me want to scream. Whatever they tested in that knife wasn't the same ATS-34 Paul creates in his ovens. He's simply the best, the very best.

BTW, he also does Strider Knives and they are getting amazing reviews on their ATS-34 blades.


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Jerry Hossom
knifemaker
www.hossom.com


 
i am working on trying to get paul to come on board on this forum....he is the retiring type, but he would certainly be a wealth of info....dont think he has a computer at home. even if he just dropping in on occasion would be of great help to all...

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http://www.mayoknives.com


 
Tom,
Would mr. Bos heat treat just a few knives at once? My Little Coal forge isn't big enough to heat treat some big knives that i am planning to make. Do i have send a large number of knifes.
Thanks,
luke
 
Paul Bos has been heat treating all my blades for as long as i can remember. he is the best and is always fast in getting them back to me.

Lukers,

Paul will treat single blades for i believe $10 each up to minimum charge then nothing over that for up tp 20 blades. you cant go wrong
smile.gif


tim
 
the wisest thing to do is to find someone else with a few and batch them up and you will save a lot of $$ that way.....we used to do that in the beginning.....but to answer your question....like tim said.. yes.

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http://www.mayoknives.com


 
Interesting Anecdote.

When I used to heat treat my own blades, I did 6 at a time. That's the number that fit into my blade holder for my oven. One day the oven broke, and in a panic, I called Paul. He told me about the 20 blade/$60 minimum so I quickly ground some more blades and sent them off to him. They were so well done, I never bothered to get my oven fixed.

Next batch I sent him were a lot of about 25. While finishing the first lot and then the second, I noticed my grinds had gotten a whole lot better. I found that the larger lots were educating my hands. I was grinding more evenly, more smoothly, and generally reducing the time I was spending at the grinder, both before and after heat treating.

One of the things I now tell people just getting into knifemaking is to increase their lot size, as I am convinced it will dramatically improve the quality of their work. Did for me anyway. So that's another thing I owe Paul, besides giving me the best steel money can buy.

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Jerry Hossom
knifemaker
www.hossom.com


 
Tom,
I didn't quite understand the charge rate that what was said early. Do I pay 10 dollars for the first knife and then after that add on three dollars per knife?
Thanks,
Luke
 
Luke, I guess that I read the above to mean that you pay $10.00 each for the first six, then the next 14 are essentially free (you still pay $60.00 for the whole batch).

I hope this is right. If the $10.00 figure is right I've got a blade in mind to treat.

[This message has been edited by Jeff Clark (edited 02-14-2000).]
 
I agree, Paul Bos is amazing. I have sold knives because he did the heat treat not because my knives are pretty. He is also into Hot Rod Cars in his spare time. He works early hours and is home by about 3:00 each day. so call him in the morning if you need to talk to him. I sent him the first batch of cpm3v that he has done. He needed the data sheet from crucible that I sent with the blades. That steel is great! I only wish He would do carbon steel still but costs too much for the permit in California. Bruce
 
Its not just the permit...the EPA (read your friendly government) has made it next to impossible for him to oil quench legally. thats why the pacific ocean is polluted nearly up to san diego harbor....all the companies who didnt stand a chance moved to tijuana and are pumping out pollutants into the ocean there at an incredible rate...yes, the government sure knows how to fix things, like making it illegal to import ivory, so the price goes up to $150 from $25 per lb and the poaching goes thru the roof as a result...yes...trust the government, they are your friends.....i love bill and hillary. they are just wonderful people.

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http://www.mayoknives.com


 
Let me get this straight; he not only heat treats the blades, he straightens them and cryos them for $3 each??? AND he is the best in the business??

This has to be the bargain of the century! No wonder people talk of him in hushed tones of great respect.

Amazing. Walt
 
Walt, you got that almost right. He hardens them, he straightens them, he cryos them, he straightens them again, then he tempers them, all for $3. And yes, he is in my judgement, the best.

Bruce, thanks for getting him the data sheet. He treated some CPM-3V for me last month and it is amazing steel. Last week I shipped a 12-1/2" Fighting Bowie that weighed just 13 oz. The steel was Rc59-60 and I could easily bend it about 2' with my hands. If it is as impact resistant as Crucible says, it is one hell of a steel. I should be having a cutting test on an 8" fighter posted here by one of my evaluators in the next couple days. Yes, it certainly does cut too.

Tom, I hope you will convey to Paul how enthusiastic we are about his services. I tell him all the time, but he's so damned modest I'm not sure he even listens. Super guy!

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Jerry Hossom
knifemaker
www.hossom.com


 
I have a test blade from 3v that he treated. I hydraulically pressed it tip first (fairly thick tip) through a 1/8" flat bar easily. I tried to do the same thing with a 1/4" and the blade started flexing and wouldnt penetrate fully. It slipped out of the press when it was half way through a 1/2" round bar and took a piece out of the edge about 1/4". Otherwise it was doing good. According to crucible, 3v holds an edge better than d2 but is 4 times tougher. Bruce
 
Did i read this wrong? Mr. Bos doesn't heat treat carbon steel? If he doesn't then I guess i'll have to make a knife out of something else
 
Luke, It sounds like he only handles air (maybe water) quenching alloys. He can't create burning oil smoke so things like O1 (oil hardening) are out. A classic air hardening steel that might be fun is A2. It is tough and takes a real sharp edge.
 
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