Heat Treatment

[th3ug1y0n3]

This is probably a dumb question. What is the difference of a fully heat treated blade versus on that is not. Recently I saw a post where they had two identical knives. It was from a popular maker. They noted that one was custom fully heat treated blade vs a off the shelf knife. They were the same knife do the off the shelf knifes not come fully heat treated? I thought that knives were heat treated why the fully heat treated? This was for a 1095 blade. If my question does not make sense let me know and will try to elaborate.

 

[shane45-1911]

Assuming we aren't talking cheap Pakistani/Chinese POS knock-offs where there is usually NO heat treatment, then all knives are heat treated in some manner- some better or more consistent than others however, depending on the manufacturer.

There are a few different types of heat treatment. A full heat-treatment hardens the entire blade to a uniform specification. That is, anywhere on the blade (spine to edge, ricasso to tip) will be the same hardness. This is typical for production or "off the shelf" knives.

Lots of custom makers use that type of heat treatment, but many also use a differential method that hardens the edge more than the spine. This gives the knife a bit of "give" in the backbone, but still has a hard edge.

I suspect that is what you have come across - simply different types of heat treatment.

 

[Larrin]

Maybe you could share the post you are referring to because I'm struggling to understand what you're talking about.

 

[Dr Rez]

Maybe you could share the post you are referring to because I'm struggling to understand what you're talking about.

This would certainly be helpful.

However OP, it seems like you are possibly trying to say that one had a typical factory heat treat the company would give to all the knives of a particular model. The other had a custom heat treat which typically just refers to a smaller batch that is heat treated seperately in order to give it specific characteristics. This could mean different temperatures, different cooling methods, different tempers...basically anything. Most often a custom heat treat will take more time and effort so it is reserved for the non "factory" knives.

For instance with 1095 like you mentioned a custom heat treat often means a much higher hardness than say a factory blade at 56hrc. So more edge retention and less toughness...

If you want to understand more about heat treating however read Larrin's book lol...

 

[th3ug1y0n3]

So now I can not find the post. It was a Tops Brakimo post. The OP stated that he had one Brakimo custom full heat treated and the other was off the shelf. I thought that they already came fully treated. I will keep looking for the post.

 

[Larrin]

If it was a TOPS knife then he was comparing the factory heat treatment to a blade that was heat treated over again.