Proper edge thickness before heat treatment?

[onebagnomad]

I'm probably going to start filing the bevels tomorrow on my first proper attempt at knifemaking. How close can I get to my final edge before I heat treat? If I grind out the edge to my desired end result before heat treat do I risk warping/cracking/etc? I'd like to get as much work done as I can before HT but don't want to risk damage. I'm working with 1/8" 1080, partial flat grind.

 

[69_knives]

I've been finding that a half a dimes thickness on the edge is just right. Not too much decarb in HT and not too much grinding after HT.

 

[JasonSCarter]

Keep the edge atleast .050" to 1/16" thick. It really depends on what your using for a quench. Using proper fast oil you'll be good at .040 - .050" thick. Water or brine go 3/32" and PRAY it's enough!

Jason

 

[cotdt]

What about air-cooling steels? How thick for those?

 

[Munky88]

for air quench you can go much thinner. Depends on the kind of knife. You could, if you wanted, do a zero grind. Most people stick around .02 inches for a thin knife.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Shallow hardening carbon steels, 1095,W-1,W-2, and low manganese steel - .040-.050

Deeer hardening carbon steels, steel with more manganese, and higher alloy steels - .030-.040

Air hardening steels with plate quench -.010-.020

Stacy

 

[jdm61]

The size of the blade can also be a factor. The likelihood of a 4 inch hunter doing the corkscrewe on you in the quench is probably less than with say a 12 inch bowie.

 

[Karl B. Andersen]

And if you point the tip to the north when you quench, nothing hardly ever goes wrong.....

 

[Rick Marchand]

I try to forge down to .040-.050" and then a clean-up with a file/sanding paddle usually gets it to about .030-.040". I work mostly in 1080 and 5160 and quench in HQ-K.

Rick