heat treating

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35

Joined
Oct 17, 1999
Messages
7
will knives made from files&circular saw blades require heat treating? thanks 35
 
Yes. They should be.....
They must be annealed first, in other words, softened to make the steel easier to work with. One simple way to do this is to heat the steel uniformly then place it in a bucket of ashes or vermiculite for a couple of days. After the blades are cut out, profiled and then ground, either you can heat treat it or you may want to send them off to get done. I personally am not set up to do any heat treating.

C Wilkins
 
I understand that files are generally hardened to around 66-67 Rockwell, way to hard and brittle for knife blades without heat treating, however, it appears that many knife makers first attempts were made from saw blade steel that were not heat treated. I'm sure the search feature would yield you lots of info. on this.-Guy T.
 
If you cut out the blades with a torch leave
about a 1/4" extra around the edge because
you will burn out the carbon in the process.
If you plan on annealing (soften and spheroid
grain) then you need to bring the steel up
to critical temp. ( where metal goes from
magnetic to non-magnetic) (use a magnet)
then cooled slowly ie.. vermiculite or some
non flamable insulation. This could take a
couple of applications. Hardening should be
done after you have profiled your blade.
Rough grind cutting edge of blade down to
about 1/8" no less before hardening and then
finish edge grind after blade is hardened.
Harden blade in oil (heavy mineral oil)after
bringing blade up to critical again. Temper
in house hold oven at 350 deg for an hour
then cool to room temp.

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Gentlemen thanks for your replies.I really should have been more specific with my query.I`ve only been annealing spots on the tang for drilling holes for the pins and have been working the stock in its hardened state with a 41/2" metabo being careful not to discolor the stock and cooling in water when needed.then on to the belt sander to smooth things up.I guess what I was asking was if heat treating was absoluetly nessecary for a knife made from a file or saw when it has been worked in it`s hardened state?I realize that the blade would tend to be brittle but was not overly concerned since the knives are intended to be skinning (hunting) knives.would the blades hold an edge better if they were heat treated?I gutted,skinned & cut up two deer and cut through the pelvic bone on one with one of my knives and it held it`s edge. thanks again 35
 
I was hoping that L6Steel would respond to this post but he must be out of pocket this weekend. He either told me or posted somewhere that he used to work with L6 in the hardened state and that was it, he did no heat treat whatsoever. Now he sends his blades to Rob Simonich and according to him, it has made all the difference in the world. Now you are getting this information second hand. You may want to try to contact him since he is the one that has had first hand experience.

C Wilkins
 
Files are ok(sometimes}.I have run across files that were only surface hardend and this are usually a low or mid carbon grade not really suitable for knives.(1045 1050 and similar grades} This seems to be more commom with files made in the last 10 years or so,the old Nicholson Black Diamond brand files I have are hard all the way through.
They make excellent woodworking chisels and hold a good edge for a very long time.
I don't have much experiance with saw blades.
I have seem power hacksaw blades that were a low carbon grade with a thin carbide? strip of teeth welded on. On a used and worn blade it was hard to see the weld,I dont think these would work very well.
 
I've used planer blades (marked D2) in their hardened state, either on wet wheels or by woking until warm on my bare hands & dipping.
I always ran an extra temper on them to relieve any stresses built up during the grinding as well.
Only thing I found that would drill holes thru the tangs was solid carbide spade-point bits (also called "Hi-Roc") I got from MSC.
If I knew then what I know now, I'd have annealed the stuff first!
Harry
 
I wouldn't use files for much of anything without heat treating. L6 saw blades start out much less brittle and tougher than files and could be used without heat treating. I've broken many files through small accidents like dropping them. An untreated file knife would be even more inclined to break.
 
I use about 10 or 15 large saw blades 20 inches around a month making damascus there is not any saw blade hard enough to qualify for a knife blade without heat treating
 
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