Pre-Heat Treat Checklist

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adam britz

Joined
Feb 16, 2017
Messages
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Hi All,
Before you heat treat your knives, what do you make sure is done before doing so? What are your steps? I know answers will vary, but in general, what do you think must be done before heat treat? (Holes drilled, finished to what grit, how much is ricasso finished?, etc...)
Thanks for the input!
 
Finish to 220 and drill holes. Technically, drilled holes are the only thing super hard to do after HT. Everything else is easy in the grinder if you watch your heat.
 
All surfaces should be a very good 220 grit finish before HT. Don't leave any deep scratches from previous grits. Get them out before HT!
Thinner blades and stainless steel blades can be taken to 400 grit before HT. Higher finishes and buffing are a waste of time before HT.
Making sure the bevels are flat before HT makes post-HT cleanup better. Getting the plunge perfect is time well spent.
The edge should be around .025-.030" thick for carbon steel, and .010-.020" thick for stainless. A dime is .050" thick.
Places where you don't want to change thickness or flatness much, like the ricasso, should be just a few thousandths thicker and wider to allow the loss from final sanding.
Drill all holes needed. Tang holes should be 25% to 50% larger than the pins/rivets going through them.
Do NOT fit the guard to the blade before HT. It will be very sloppy after finishing the blade. Wait until the blade is finished all but sharpening.
Don't sweat the fine details like finger grooves, clips, and choils, they are better finished or added in final grinding. Do the basic profile and spend the pre-HT time getting the bevels and plunge right.

Final comment for future advanced projects:
When you get to daggers and double bevel blades - make sure the center line is dead perfect at 400 grit before HT. If you think it was hard to get it perfect before HT, you don't want to try after HT. Daggers are one knife where "close enough" isn't good enough before HT.
 
Same as above. I finish everything to 220 and i also make sure the all spine scratches are running length wise and all uniform. Post ht i grind with 120 grit to final thickness and then finish bevels with jflex 320 grit.
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