Serrations on my bread knife

[iasg]

Hi!

posted this in the wrong place and was kindly directed here!


Can't find good info on HT and serrations. Question is whether to grind serrations on this bread knife before or after HT. Read that grinding before increases risk for heat risers and cracks? After risks over heating and ruining HT on blade. Also read that with 1084/15N20, HT only gets about 1mm down. My blank is about 1/8 now. thinking that will help with warping etc during HT then grind in serrations.

Finally, what about going half way on grind for serrations and then HT and then finishing up?

Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[C_Claycomb]

What kind of bread are you going to cut? I ask because I have been using smooth knives to slice regular bakery made brown, whole grain and white loaves for years. I find that a sharp, smooth edge slices bread cleaner and leaves a smoother face. My dad uses the AEBL carving knife I made him to slice bread far more than the serrated VG10 bread knife I bought him previously! The problem most folk would have using cheap factory knives for cutting bread is that they are not sharpened enough. Only exception would be really crusty very fresh loaves where the crust is hard.

Where did you read that 1084 and 15N20 are shallow hardening?

How are you proposing to grind these serrations? What is the plan for keeping them evenly spaced? What shape are you going for. I tackled sharpening / deepening the worn scallop serrations on an old Sabatier using a Dremel type tool and little drums and it was still not easy to keep the scallops evenly spaced. Uneven scallops really stand out.

Best of luck
Chris

 

[Richard338]

I did a tactical bread knife sort of how you suggest. I scribed a line down the edge past the center and filed scallops to the line leaving just a little. After heat treatment I ground the other side to expose them. I did an alternating pattern with some square teeth also. Those survived heat treatment. This was done in A2 steel 18 years ago and is still in service. It was a little tedious, but if you index all the locations and take your time it will be nice.

 

[Drew Riley]

Personally, I like to heat treat thinner knives at full thickness, and do all my grinding post heat treat. The serrations can easily be ground in with a small wheel (Say, 1/4" to 3/8" or so). Just keep your blade cool, and you'll be find. Use a fresh belt (or belts), go slow, and quench in water often (or use a mister).
That said, you can most certainly rough them in before hand, but I really don't think that will save a whole lot over just grinding them after. Then again, I guess that all depends on whether you have a variable speed 2x72 with a small wheel attachment.

 

[iasg]

Didn’t say thank you for all these responses. I appreciate it.
I made another knife and hardened before grinding in serrations. Thinking I’d do them by hand with a file. I’m either ruining files or not doing it correctly. Was this a bad decision to file them in by hand?

 

[Richard338]

You often see people confirming hardness after heat treatment by "skating a file". Ordinary files won't cut hardened steel. In my previous post I specified filing them before heat treatment. You could still perhaps use a diamond file, but even so it will be slow going and wear out your tools.