Reshape / Grind - heat treated steel?

[averageguy]

Is it possible to reshape or cut a finger groove into the handle / tang of a blade after it has been heat treated?

 

[Chiro75]

Sure, if you have a lot of time. The problem is twofold:
1) You're dealing with hardened steel which is tougher on tools and
2) You have to be careful to not raise the temperature of the steel such that the temper and heat treat are ruined.

These two things together mean that you will spend a long, long time and maybe wear out a lot of tooling (you'd probably use a Dremel with sanding wheels or something) on this project. Have fun!

 

[Mike Ferrara]

Unless of course you thought ahead and didn't harden the tang.

 

[Chiro75]

I assumed he was talking about modding a production knife. This is true, although even on a knife with a soft-ish tang (differential heat treat) you need to be careful with heat creeping into the blade as you grind.

 

[gator68]

Is it possible to reshape or cut a finger groove into the handle / tang of a blade after it has been heat treated?

It's easy if you have a belt grinder or even a bench grinder. Just go slow and cool it down often. Grinding will create a lot of heat and might affect the handle material if you're not careful. I do things like this all the time because I change my mind as I make the knife.

 

[averageguy]

Thank you folks for all that information.