Heat Treating Very Thin Blades

[John Frankl]

So I just ground my first two folder blades (Thanks for all the replies on ways to hold them!).

They came out okay, but the edges are a bit thin. I am used to working with much thicker stock

These are both pattern welded, and I am worried about decarb during the thermal cycling before hardening.

I do not have salts, but I likely have access to a digitally controlled furnace. I am wondering what my best options are. I was thinking of performing the thermal cycling (normalizing) with the blades wrapped in HT foil, and then taking them out only for the final heat and quench. But like I said, this is my first time with folder blades and I would really appreciate and like to hear other people's ideas as well.

Thanks!

 

[elementfe]

I'll be following this one, since I do a lot of fairly thin kitchen knives- Enquiring minds will want to know exactly what steel and what thickness, also what the knives will be for.

 

[SBuzek]

I grind all my folder blades after H/T.My carbon steel folders(mostly O1) are also ground after H/T.I use a thin wash of satanite on carbon blade to help control decarb.
Just drill and set the rise and fall.zero at open and leave about .020 at halfstop and close, then H/T and grind.
On thin kitchen knives do the same,grind after H/T.

Stan

 

[John Frankl]

Thanks for all the replies so far. I may just grind after HT on future blades--too late for these two.

They are 1084 and 15n20 in an explosion pattern. They will be used to replace the existing D2 blades in a couple of Queen Cutlery Mountain Man folders.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

My best advice would be to use as much scale limiting technique as possible. If using a forge, tune the burner to a neutral or slightly reducing flame. Give the blades a thin coat of satanite or similar refractory. Mix it about the thickness of a runny milkshake and dip the blades in, then hang them up to dry overnight. Heat evenly, and avoid direct flame on the blades. If using a forge, a muffle pipe would be good here. Praying to St. Clements probably won't hurt.

 

[LRB]

I just HT'ed two thin blades of 01 to be springless penny knife folders. The steel was 3/64" stock and were convex ground to about .015/.020 at the edge, with the grind going about 1/3 up toward the spine before HT. Lateral grind finish to 220 grit. The blades were coated with ATP-641 after a one hour stress relief at 1225° and air cool, with a double coat of the ATP along the grind area. Blades came out of the quench with a nice smooth gray color. These were pre-heated at 1225° for 45 minutes, soaked at 1400° for 10 minutes to help the oven to adjust, 1475° for 15 minutes after oven reached temp. Quenched in Parks AAA. No warp, no scale, no pits, no decarb. Tempered 425°, 2 x 2.