Peters Heat treat questions

DCL Knives

DCL Knives

Joined
Jun 6, 2012
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783
Maybe I'm just missing it but I can't find any pricing info for Peters heat treat. I've checked their site and sent them an email but haven't heard back. If any of you know the pricing info and how to pay it would be greatly appriciated. I've got a batch of 20 blades that I'm dieing to get heat treated. Thanks!
 
They used to do it by the pound!...sadly, not anymore. I have a batch there now. They sent me a price sheet, when I go my last batch back, but I can't find it anywhere. I'm pretty sure it said that they are charging $4 a blade now. I can say that I think they do an outstanding job. They test each blade for hardness, also. Usually takes about 3 to 4 weeks to get them back. As far as paying, they normally just send me an invoice back with the blanks. I'd give them a call. They are always nice when I call them.
 
Peters' absolutely rocks. I cannot say enough good things about them.

Call them. Ask for Brad Stallsmith in the Cutlery Division. They will hook you up. Sending 20 blades at a time will be very cost-effective... one or two blades, not so much. As Jasper said, they will send you an invoice/bill when they return your blades. It generally takes three weeks from the day I send a batch out until I get it back.

I don't really know their pricing structure, but I can say the batch of two dozen blades I got back earlier this week came out to roughly $8/blade, including HT, tempering, cryo, and Rockwell testing, and return shipping. That was for a mixed batch with three different steel types. (air- and oil-hardening, different tempering requirements, etc.)

You simply cannot beat that price, even without considering the very high quality of their service.
 
I recently received a batch of 20 back from Peters, as James said, it worked out to 8-9 bucks a blade. They come back perfect, they do an excellent job.
 
They have gone up in price but what hasn't? Their work is absolutely the best. You will not find better. Worth every penny for what you get.
 
There's a page on their site for you to send them a request for a quote. It's pretty straightforward and they'll reply within a day or two.

Their pricing is different depending on quantity and size of the pieces. Any quotes floating around by anyone other than Peters' will only be representative of that person's specific batch.
Peters'/Brad Stallsmith has been great to work with in my experience.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I got an email from Brad tonight :o and he said $100 bucks for up to 20 blades. Seems like a great price to me.
 
here is the exact prices 1=$25 2=$50 3=$75 4-20=$100 then $2 each after 20 i keep them till i get 20 blades for the best value that includes cryo
 
I use them for one blade at a time, and yes that can be very expensive. But as my wife pointed out, it would take me a lot of blades (and a long time) for me to be able to save money by doing HT myself after buying an HT kiln. Moreover, by sending them to Peters I get top notch work rather than my schoolboy learning projects. Sure, I plan to get the kiln some day and just live with the inferior quality until I learn to get it right... but until then, $25 - 30 per blade (shipping included) seems perfectly reasonable to me.
 
I want to send them some CPM steels soon, and from what I have read I want to get the steel close to the final finish before heat treat. For those sending 20 blades at a time how do you package them for shipping? Do you worry with wrap them separately or is that just overkill and a mess for them?
 
Spalted said:
I want to send them some CPM steels soon, and from what I have read I want to get the steel close to the final finish before heat treat.
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Definitely.

Spalted said:
For those sending 20 blades at a time how do you package them for shipping? Do you worry with wrap them separately or is that just overkill and a mess for them?
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I just lay out a sheet of newspaper and place one blade on it, near the end. Roll it over once or twice, lay another blade down, roll over, repeat as necessary. Then fold the ends over and secure with some masking tape. It doesn't hurt to wrap a piece of stout cardboard around the pointy ends to prevent them from poking the poor guy who opens the box. Stuff the box heavily so they don't flop around. The last couple batches I got back were just stacked together by steel type and wrapped with several layers of plastic wrap. That worked fine, too.

Wrap blades of each steel type/tempering requirement in their own "roll" and mark them. The knives' steel type should be individually stamped on the tang, too. I just use cheap stamps and keep it simple... O1, 154, 3V, EMX etc.

Stamp.jpg


Even if they're threaded narrow/hidden tangs that don't require a pin or bolt, they should have an 1/8" hole in them somewhere, so they can be hung from a wire in the furnace.
 
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Thanks James, I was also wondering how I was going to mark them and I like your idea of the stamps better than the idea I had.
 
It is easy to bend a tip on a thin unhardened blade in shipping.

If I'm shipping a lot of the same pattern I'll screw them together into a solid "chunk" though the holes in the tangs into stacks of about ten, tape that chunk down to a piece of cardboard and bend the cardboard into a "brick", then stuff and tape over the ends. I then pack these bricks into a shipping box with additional padding.
 
I use 3-4 inch wide shrink wrap for almost everything that I can when it comes to shipping stuff in bundles.
Per the grammar police, I use mostly stretch wrap. I have also used shrink tubing because I had a lot of it in large sizes then when I ran out, I went to stretch wrap. I feel so dirty.
 
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Spalted said:
Thanks James, I was also wondering how I was going to mark them and I like your idea of the stamps better than the idea I had.
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The stamps are a good idea. I had been tracing the outline of each style of knife I've shipped them then marked the steel type and quantity on the sheet. I figured Brad could use that as a "legend" and know anything he needs by the profile of the blade.
 
fumbler said:
The stamps are a good idea. I had been tracing the outline of each style of knife I've shipped them then marked the steel type and quantity on the sheet. I figured Brad could use that as a "legend" and know anything he needs by the profile of the blade.
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Brad has told me that just writing on them with a Sharpie is good enough for him to keep them organized. I'm sure a "legend" like you describe would work for him, too. But what if your map gets misplaced somehow?

HT'ed blades come back with a thin layer of colorful oxide that obscures any surface marking that wasn't already burned off at a couple thousand degrees. A light stamping in an inconspicuous area does not burn off, and is still plainly visible even if a blade sits around a while before I get to finishing it, and after post-HT cleanup is done.

$10 for a set of stamps and a few seconds' time each, to never forget what steel a couple hundred or more blades are made of. No-brainer :)
 
james terrio said:
Brad has told me that just writing on them with a Sharpie is good enough for him to keep them organized. I'm sure a "legend" like you describe would work for him, too. But what if your map gets misplaced somehow?
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I deep etch my logo in one blade just in case ;)
I'm gonna go with stamping in the future. It's so simple.
 
Im prepping a batch to send off to Brad monday, couple dozen with 3, 23"+ blades. I made a reusable tube out of 2" ABS tubing with cap on one end and a clean out fitting on the other. If Im not sending out any blades over 10", I just bundle them up and use cardboard send them off cheap. As far as marking my blades I just use my engraver and scribble my steel type and name.
Greg
 
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