How far do I finish the blade before sending it to the heat treater?

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gixxer

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Sep 21, 2006
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I tried the search function, and it is giving me a blank screen for some reason. So, I am in the process of grinding my first blade. How far along would I polish the blade after final shaping before I send it? My ultimate goal is a satin finish anyhow. Would I polish up to 120 or 220 grit? Thanks for the help.
 
The more work you do now, the less you need to do later.

Once steel is hardened it is a pain in the a$$ to hand sand. Especially steels like D2, S30V, etc.

I finish S30V to 400 grit before heat treat. Then when I get it back, I finish to 600 grit.

Hope this helps.
 
flatgrinder said:
The more work you do now, the less you need to do later.

Once steel is hardened it is a pain in the a$$ to hand sand. Especially steels like D2, S30V, etc.

I finish S30V to 400 grit before heat treat. Then when I get it back, I finish to 600 grit.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

From one noob to another this is great advice. I go to the point where Im about to switch over to 1200 grit paper then I heat treat my O-1. The finer you sand now the easier it is to get a final finish, it also makes it harder for any oil residue or carbon to stick to the blade so you have less contaminates to remove on your final polish.
 
i agree with these guys, go almost as far as your final desired grit. i ususlly go to either 400 or 600
brett
 
About 120 to as low as about 220 grit is a pretty good norm. You must remember or know that there will be clean up anyhow by you after heat treat. Even if atmospehere controlled heat treat there will be, at a minimum, discoloration that you the maker will need to grind away. Your grinding is not at all finished prior to heat treat. The finer you grind prior to heat treat the more you may have to resort to a heavier grit after heat treat and the courser you stop at before heat treat treat the more heavy grinding may be required after heat treat. I usually stop at about 120 grit and clean up after that - but I do take my bushcrafts that have a zero edge on them to 220 grit prior.

rlinger
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im with rlinger, i allwase get some light scale that needs to be removed after heat treating. i also take it up to around 120-200 but some times i leve it at 80
 
I tried sanding all the scratches out of a bowie onece, now I'm lazy and leave the scale on....looks pretty and no sanding!
 
I send it to heat treating (400c or ATS34) at 600grit.

Most of the guys I have talked to in OZ say the same.

BUT, they all use the same Heat Treaters (Hills).
 
one resion i domt go very high on th grit is i do a lot of grinding after the heat treat. i do my convex edge bevles after heat treat and i use 120 grit belt for that.
 
Thanks for the input guys. For a while there, my consistency last night almost had me scrapping my blade a couple of times. Magically, everything lined up in the end, only one major flaw. I cannot grind it out since it is too close to the blade edge.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d41/gixxer01/Blade.jpg

I dont want to grind till I get it out, then have the steel be too thin, not to mention not uniform with the rest of the blade edge. Chalk that one up to impatience. Oh well. Its my first blade, I will still use it.
 
some times when i have this problem i gring the edge off so i can take the beval down to remove the problem spots, but doing this will make the knife not as wide. I like your plunge cut
 
O one more thing, i have allwase wanted to drill holes in the blade and fill the hole with brass so you have a spoted brass pattern, this could take care of you spots
 
JTknives said:
I like your plunge cut
Click to expand...
Thanks. That's what 30min with the dremel and a stone will get ya. I couldnt use the drill press cause it was too close to the edge of the steel. You are talking about the choil, right?
 
Depends on the final finish!
Mine are taken to 400grit because getting a 60grit scratch you missed is much harder in a hardened blade...
 
JTknives said:
what stone did you use, you have a picture?
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just a plain jane 3/8" dia stone. The one I used was kinda soft, as it removed material from the stone while cutting the steel. I also used it to clean up the inside curves and finger groove after drilling a line of holes.

http://www.dremel.com/en-us/attachm...accessory-detail.htm?H=188558&G=66333&I=66340

That was not exactly the easiest thing to do. I am making blades budget style, so I am trying to use what I have laying around to cut and grind blades. I am using a 4x36 belt and 6" disc combo to do this one. In retrospect, I would have beveled the blade before I cut the choil. It would have been less material to remove with the dremel. This blade is 5/32 154CPM.
 
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