Retempering chinese cheapies...

K

Kiwi303

Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
295
It seems from what I've found out that a lot of the very cheap chinese import knives both here in NZ and over there in the states are actually of quality metal, and after going over them with a fine file and sandpaper to remove burrs et al. are quite well made, just badly put together and badly tempered.

What I've found is the blades tend to be milled out of ready hardened rolled plate, which is kept at a point where it's hard enough to last as a finished blade nder the normal run of cheap knives use, but soft enough to be milled without wearing out too many mill blades. Heat treating the blades after milling simply is to costly for the benefit obtained, they'd rather use harder raw material and change/sharpen the milling machine blades more often.

Has anyone pulled one apart and tried re-hardening and tempering the the blade so it holds a better edge? Ok, 440 stainless isn't going to be as good as a custom in D2, 1085 or 52100 et al. but surely a proper heat treat would improve it noticably.

Hows it work out?
 
Most cheap import knives are as you said,just punched and ground from (somewhat)hard sheet.They never get heat treated.Since 95% of them are simple 440 stainless,you could have the blade heat treated and cryo tempered.The problem would be twofold.First,you would have to grind away a fair bit of the existing blade after HT to remove the decarb steel (assuming it doesn't warp).Second,you would still have a cheaply made knife of poor to average materials.You would be far better to order a blade (or kit knife) from one of the supply catalogs,and assemble your own knife with better materials.If you have the ability to properly HT stainless steel yourself,you would never consider doing this,so I assume you are fairly new to knife making.Your time and money are too valuable to waste them on something that was mediocre to start with.
Stacy
 
You will always be guessing as to what the steel is .A cheap knife is made with a cheap steel .A fairly new steel H-1 is a stainless steel designed for just those type of knives, it comes from the steel mill already "hardened" and the maker just grinds it .But you can't do anything to improve it because it's still a cheap steel.If you want to make knives stick to a known steel and forget any type of 'mystery steel'.
 
You're right, I am new to knife making... I also have a few cheap knives around that I was wondering if it was possible to improve.
The other thing I thought about was getting a blank of good known steel, such as 5160 or D2, removing the blade from the cheapies and grinding out a matching blade from the good stuff, HTing that and installing that blade to replace the cheap one.

Hey presto, A folder I can use, combined with more practice in making and HTing a blade :)
 
If the frame and parts are OK quality,there is nothing wrong with making a new blade.It may take several blades to get one right,but you will learn a lot.Don't grind too much off before HT or it won't fit after you regrind the decarb off.Leave plenty at the pivot area to make a snug final fit.Again,a kit knife may have better parts,and you can still make a new blade to fit it.
 
I have several cheapo folders laying around but would never think of putting them back together. I tear them apart to see the geometry. Thats all they are good for. Sometimes I cut the blades in half with my blades just for fun.
 
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