I am working on my first knife. I have a chunk of D2 tool steel. My question is when I am removing the material with my sanding drum do i have to worry about over heating it. i do see it change from blue to burnt brown. The only thing that really bothers me is the tip. I should be fine if i properly stress relieve it and hardened and cure it correct?
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Metallurgy
- Thread starter rudy16
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2007
- Messages
- 1,171
I dont think just sanding/grinding will cause it to loose any of it's properties before you heat treat it. The forging temp for that steel is alot higher than the temps your getting. As long as it is properly heat treated after your done grinding what your doing now shouldnt hurt it any.
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2007
- Messages
- 3,375
One thing I will say about grinding D2 or any other air hardening steel before you harden it, You can get it to hot and as it cools it can air harden some. This can make it a lot harder to grind, sand and drill. Keep dunking it in a water bucket as you grind and keep it soft.
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2003
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- 2,361
I would go with what the others have said here, as far as changing the inside of the steel on the magnitude of heat treating you have little to worry about before the final heat treatment. However if you find the you have a lot of your blades warping during the final heat treatment I would eliminate the over-heating on the grinder. Keeping the stock removal even down both sides and avoiding excessive heat will keep stresses and other factors low and even as well, this will result in straighter blades in the final heat treatment.
