SAK blade met fire question.

[wuyeah]

Recently went camping, my friend use my SAK climber and while we talk, i notice he was burning my blade for whatever reason....

I have noticed. Some parts of the blade turn black. First i thought it can be remove by washiing it. But some parts are still black. Does any one know why after burning...some parts on the blade turn black, which cannot remove? Is it a question of bad production of the steel?

In some movie, you will see people burning their knife. What exactly is the reason?? Some for cutting the wound, that i can understand. Trying to get rid of virus. But sitting there just want to burn it with fire....what exactly went through in their mind

Thanks god that SAK was a user

 

[Esav Benyamin]

I imagine that's something people do with other people's gear, not their own.

You should be able to clean it better with some sort of metal polish. Flitz is good.

 

[Emanuel]

The heat treat is now completely ruined. Like esav said, you will probably be able to get all the black oxide off by polishing the blade with a metal polish like flitz. If not then you might even need a very high grit wet/dry sand paper. Remember to always go along in the same direction as the existing grind lines.

Is it a question of bad production of the steel?

No, all steel does that.

In some movie, you will see people burning their knife.

They do a lot of stupid things in movies, this is defintelely one of them. If you put a blade in a fire, you ruin the heat-treat because a fire will be hotter than the temperature the blade was tempered. In other words, it will lower the RC hardness of the edge.

Good luck, smack your friend for being a dumbass and disrespecting your property.(I hate people like that)
I would've thrown him in the fire.

Thanks god that SAK was a user

Now it's a paperweight.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

ACtually, it's not just steel that gets that way. My uncle used to play with passing his fingers through candle flames, and being an impressionable little kid, I followed him. Later, I would play with a Zippo lighter, washing the flame under my palm and fingers. This deposited a lot of soot, and some charring. It wouldn't all wash off. It had to grow out, callus, and flake off.

He might not have heated the blade long enough to effect the temper. After you clean it, sharpen it up and see how well it takes and holds an edge.

 

[Emanuel]

Agreed, you're right. He might be lucky.

I was a little quick with the pessimism!

If you've got ceramic rods go over the edge with it, and try to feel whether the edge perhaps feels softer than before. Do the rods feel like they're "digging into" the steel more than usual.

Good luck.

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My uncle used to play with passing his fingers through candle flames, and being an impressionable little kid, I followed him. Later, I would play with a Zippo lighter, washing the flame under my palm and fingers. This deposited a lot of soot, and some charring. It wouldn't all wash off. It had to grow out, callus, and flake off.

I used to do that with my father, as we both have very high pain threshholds. We'd always keep our fingers over the flames quite a long time, scaring the crapola out of my mother.

 

[rev_jch]

Well, if it burned hot enough, the blade heat treat is ruined. Either way you should be able to remove it with some brasso, or flitz polish. However, if it gottten that hot, you can polish it all day and it still will not work right (trying to remove all the discoloration). All you can do is try, and see what happens.

 

[DGG]

Recently went camping, my friend use my SAK climber and while we talk, i notice he was burning my blade for whatever reason....

I have noticed. Some parts of the blade turn black. First i thought it can be remove by washiing it. But some parts are still black. Does any one know why after burning...some parts on the blade turn black, which cannot remove? Is it a question of bad production of the steel?

In some movie, you will see people burning their knife. What exactly is the reason?? Some for cutting the wound, that i can understand. Trying to get rid of virus. But sitting there just want to burn it with fire....what exactly went through in their mind

Thanks god that SAK was a user

Give it to him and tell him it is now his and he is to buy you a brand new one. A true friend would do this is a heart-beat with many apologies for screwing up your knife.

 

[stevekt]

The knife is not totally ruined if you can still cut your "friend" with it.

 

[Rat Finkenstein]

I would have him buy a new one and let him keep the discolored one.

 

[David Schott]

Itll depend how hot it got....if it got above temper temp for even a moment, you are in trouble and the hardness has been compromised.....That being said, who knows.....polish, test.

 

[wuyeah]

Wow, I did not know it is such a big deal.....

I did not know it will ruin the blade,.....i thought it is a simple color problem, so i did not react......

errr...........

what a surprise, not a good surprise.

 

[Monocrom]

Your friend probably did ruin the heat treat on your knife! :grumpy:
Keep blades away from fire!
If one of my friends did something like that, I'd make them buy me a new SAK!
I'd tell him he can keep the ruined one!

 

[wuyeah]

When a blade's heat treatment is ruined, what exactly kind of damage will likely happen?

I guess i don't truely understand the term "heat treatment" and the importance of it.

Can someone explain?

 

[madcap_magician]

A match just run across a knife blade is usually done to sterilize it so it can be used in first aid. If I had my druthers, I'd just dunk it in boiling water for a couple minutes, but a match works if you have no other choice. If you just run it over fast, I don't think you'll ruin the temper, but it might be close.

 

[Redguy]

When a blade's heat treatment is ruined, what exactly kind of damage will likely happen?

I guess i don't truely understand the term "heat treatment" and the importance of it.

Can someone explain?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_treatment