Makers that have their heat treat down to a science

N

noob93

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Feb 6, 2016
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I was just thinking about knives as usual:p and a question popped into my head. Now im a bit new to "higher" end knives and customs hence my name on here. We all know heat treatment can really make or break a knife quite literally sometimes. What makers out there are not just following the guidelines given by the manufacturer and doing a great job on their ht? What steel or steels are they using and are they heat treating in house or sending them out? I apreciate any enlightenment in advance:)
 
Buck using Paul Bos heat treat for their 420HC and S30V.

Rowen heat treat on 1095 used by ESEE (and others?).

Kabar's heat treat of their 1095CV.
 
TravisH said:
Buck using Paul Bos heat treat for their 420HC and S30V.

Rowen heat treat on 1095 used by ESEE (and others?).

Kabar's heat treat of their 1095CV.
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I agree.
 
I have owned knives from all of the above manufacturers and I must agree with kabar impressing me the most possibly. I was more looking for custom makers that do a great job as I feel most the bigger companies have the time and money to get it right.
 
I as well as my customers absolutely love my A2, (CPM) D2, and S7.
 
I can't wait till the exchange gets better and I get some money so I can try some of that.
 
John at JK Knives spent years getting his O1 dialed in, and it shows.
I have beaten my JKs to a degree that I expected failure, and yet nothing... Each one that I have misused doesn't show the damage it should. I have used them to pry, baton, hammer through split rail fence, I literally used a hammer (I did take a ceramic sharpening rod to the edges of the spine to knock down the burrs I caused but that's it)...
 
I have more experience with customs from South Africa and here are a few that do their own heat treat in house and have done some extensive testing.

Des Horn: RWL-34, Nitrobe 77, Damasteel
Andre Thorburb: RWL-34, CPM-154, M390, CTS-204P, Damasteel, CPM-S90V, N690, CTS-B75P, 12C27, 14C28N, CPM-M4
Neil Schutte: RWL-34, N690
Neels Roos: 12C27, N690, M390
Stuart Smith, Silver Steel and his own forged damascus.
Andre Groblaar: N690, 12C27, 14C28N.

The above are makers I have discussed the heat treat extensively with and seen their heat treat setup etc.
 
NJBillK said:
John at JK Knives spent years getting his O1 dialed in, and it shows.
I have beaten my JKs to a degree that I expected failure, and yet nothing... Each one that I have misused doesn't show the damage it should. I have used them to pry, baton, hammer through split rail fence, I literally used a hammer (I did take a ceramic sharpening rod to the edges of the spine to knock down the burrs I caused but that's it)...
Click to expand...

Holy shit man I think the only knife is ever treated that bad was a kitchen knife as a small child. That sounds pretty damn impressive though. I'm taking it those knives had some thick edges on them?
 
marthinus said:
I have more experience with customs from South Africa and here are a few that do their own heat treat in house and have done some extensive testing.

Des Horn: RWL-34, Nitrobe 77, Damasteel
Andre Thorburb: RWL-34, CPM-154, M390, CTS-204P, Damasteel, CPM-S90V, N690, CTS-B75P, 12C27, 14C28N, CPM-M4
Neil Schutte: RWL-34, N690
Neels Roos: 12C27, N690, M390
Stuart Smith, Silver Steel and his own forged damascus.
Andre Groblaar: N690, 12C27, 14C28N.

The above are makers I have discussed the heat treat extensively with and seen their heat treat setup etc.
Click to expand...

Awesome thanks for all the info I'm having fun looking at those gentlemans work. Really like Mr chuttes stuff just real clean work.
 
Survive!Knives has been working on CPM 3V to get an ideal HT.

Remember that steelmakers suggestions for HT are for their typical customer's needs !!! So if the typical customer uses 1" thick material that's the HT the company gives . We knife people come along with 1/8" blades and we might do better with a different HT . So start with the company's HT then do a bit of experimenting to optimize for your knife !!
 
noob93 said:
Holy shit man I think the only knife is ever treated that bad was a kitchen knife as a small child. That sounds pretty damn impressive though. I'm taking it those knives had some thick edges on them?
Click to expand...

Nothing crazy, when I get home from work, I'll post some after photos and some measurements.
 
NJBillK said:
John at JK Knives spent years getting his O1 dialed in, and it shows.
I have beaten my JKs to a degree that I expected failure, and yet nothing... Each one that I have misused doesn't show the damage it should. I have used them to pry, baton, hammer through split rail fence, I literally used a hammer (I did take a ceramic sharpening rod to the edges of the spine to knock down the burrs I caused but that's it)...
Click to expand...

Yes - John (JK Handmade Knives) does a great job. One time we did an "abuse" passaround, the knife tested out to 59 RWC, and you can check the toughness in the following thread.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/913609-JK-Knives-Torture-Test-Passaround

Busse has their heat tread down, great stuff that INFI.

I have never had a heat treat related issue with any of my Buck, Spyderco, Benchmade, Zero Tolerance/Kershaw, GEC, Queen, Canal Street knives either.

I am just assuming, based on my experience, that if you buy quality, you get quality.

best

mqqn
 
I was pretty hard on my BK-15 two weekends ago in the Rockies, with no damage to speak of. Batonning, prying, and carving. Days before the trip, I was trimming some wood to fit a repair and hit a nail quite hard with no damage to the blade beyond a little hiccup in the edge. Cleaned up with a diamond plate and ceramic rod and was back to shaving sharp in minutes.

What I like about the Becker 1095 is the ease of sharpening. I'm reading here that the Carbon V of Cold Steel's old Camillus-made blades is a close cousin of 1095, but I have a great deal of trouble sharpening that steel. No doubt, though, it is even tougher.

Zieg
 
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Nice touchy feally thread. So pretty much no one has bad HT, lol.
 
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