Recommendation? How clean before foil heat treat?

F

FunkCoaster

Joined
Nov 2, 2010
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I'm heat treating thin AEB-L. Foil-wrapped, plate quenched, followed by dry-ice slurry.

No grinding done on the bevel or flat.

The flats are in as-rolled condition, but there is also paint on it - perhaps for identification at the distributor.

Does this paint need to be stripped before heat treat? Will any other impurities negatively impact heat treat?
For example - dykem, sharpie lines, finger oils.

So far, I have been scrubbing the blade with acetone immediately before going into the foil.
 
The only thing I do is wipe the blanks down with acetone. That removes the paint that Alpha Knife Supply marks their steel with and any oils on the surface. Probably not strictly necessary, but I don't want to be putting a bunch of volatiles in a ~2000 ˚F oven.
 
We clean all the paint off blades befor heat treating customers blades. AEBL is already super prone to bowing and we have found that the paint can cause an ash layer on one side which I’m guessing causes an uneven cooling between plates as the blades would bows towards the paint every time. Or worse the paint expands the envelope enough that it get a pin hole and leaks oxygen into the packet which burns a spot on the blade. It happens some times even when you clean the blades but it’s much more likely if you have something that can burn in with the blade.
 
Jason Fry said:
I don't worry about it at all. I'm one of those rebels that will occasionally re-use a foil packet.
Click to expand...

Count me on that club membership... If I plan to do the bulk grinding after HT I don't even close the tang section of the envelope, decarb is minimal inside the envelope.

Pablo
 
I write on the tang with a white paint marker with the steel type and any data like the customer name, etc. Itv survives the HT so I Know what was what.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I write on the tang with a white paint marker with the steel type and any data like the customer name, etc. Itv survives the HT so I Know what was what.
Click to expand...
We use a sharpie and it generally is readable after heat treat.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I write on the tang with a white paint marker with the steel type and any data like the customer name, etc. Itv survives the HT so I Know what was what.
Click to expand...
I think that it is same thing like correction fluid ? I used it as coat against scale/decarburization when HT and it work .............
 
I've always been nervous about AEB-L heat treating, from reading a lot about it here, so I clean it with acetone then with a scotch brite belt, I guess I've been going overboard
 
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