How do you know when your 01 heat treat has been compromised?

Joe Duder

Joe Duder

Joined
Jan 22, 2013
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For the record I'm not experiencing any problems. The reason I'm asking is- I purchased a blade from a private party, I was told by the maker that the knife had been buffed and could possibly have a compromised heat treat.:eek:

What are some sure signs of compromised 01 tool steel heat treat?
 
Won't hold an edge. Chips in the edge. Bent spine.

You'll have to use it to find out. It's not gonna tell you just sitting in your closet.

If it's a big blade, I'd go wail on a few trees and see if there is any damage to the edge. If it's a small knife try cutting up a bunch of cardboard. See if it holds an edge and if it does, no problems. I really wouldn't think buffing it would mess up the heat treatment. I wouldn't think you could buff a knife to the glowing stage or anything. Grinding is a different story.
 
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AntDog said:
Won't hold an edge. Chips in the edge. Bent spine.

You'll have to use it to find out. It's not gonna tell you just sitting in your closet.

If it's a big blade, I'd go wail on a few trees and see if there is any damage to the edge. If it's a small knife try cutting up a bunch of cardboard. See if it holds an edge and if it does, no problems. I really wouldn't think buffing it would mess up the heat treatment. I wouldn't think you could buff a knife to the glowing stage or anything. Grinding is a different story.
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Thanks for the input.

Yeah I kinda figured that much. I have several 01 blades, I guess I could take three or four of them along with the blade in question and test them all and see which one dulls and chips significantly faster than the rest.

I was hoping for a simple trick or tip on how to test it. e.g. Slice an onion if the blade patinas to a dark red color, the heat treat is compromised.

I know this is not true, I just used it as an example. It would be easier and take less time to slice an onion than testing four knives. I'll have to wait for a free weekend to test the blade(s).
 
Joe Duder said:
Thanks for the input.

Yeah I kinda figured that much. I have several 01 blades, I guess I could take three or four of them along with the blade in question and test them all and see which one dulls and chips significantly faster than the rest.

I was hoping for a simple trick or tip on how to test it. e.g. Slice an onion if the blade patinas to a dark red color, the heat treat is compromised.

I know this is not true, I just used it as an example. It would be easier and take less time to slice an onion than testing four knives. I'll have to wait for a free weekend to test the blade(s).
Click to expand...

I think that's exactly what you should do. It's the only thing that will tell you for sure. As far as I know there's no quick trick that will tell you, but real world use will definitely. I really would not think it's possible just from buffing. I think you're good. I'd just test it to confirm. If the edge goes dull real quick, chips out or rolls really easily - it just might have a wrecked HT.

Let us know how it goes. I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised and nothing is wrong, and you love the knife!
 
marcinek said:
Bingo. I can't see how buffing is going to get a blade hot enough to ruin the HT.
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In a phonecall with Mora's Chief-engineer Per Brask, he warned me about how easy it is to compromise the heat-treatment on their lam. O1 models.
I guess buffing isn't enough heat to do this, but the beltsander can build-up that amount of heat.

By cooling the blade often, there shouldn't be any risks.


Regards
Mikael
 
Mikael W said:
I
I guess buffing isn't enough heat to do this, but the beltsander can build-up that amount of heat.
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I have heard that a belt sander can definitely mess up a heat treat.

Mikael, I wonder if the outside layer in a laminated steel is easy to heat up because it is so thin. Still, I can't imaging buffing could even heat one of those layers up enough to affect HT.
 
marcinek said:
I have heard that a belt sander can definitely mess up a heat treat.

Mikael, I wonder if the outside layer in a laminated steel is easy to heat up because it is so thin. Still, I can't imaging buffing could even heat one of those layers up enough to affect HT.
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It's not easier than a monosteel and in the case of lam. Mora's, it wouldn't matter as it's just low carbon construction steel.
It doesn't take heat-treatment!
That's why You can bend those blades and then bend them back to true.


Regards
Mikael
 
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