So how "easy" is it to grind annealed steel?

J

J. Pitts

Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Messages
11
First attempt at knife making.

I heated up 1084fg until non-magnetic and let air cool x2.

I barely notice a bastard file doing anything. Ok, so I moved over to a small 4x36 from Sears that i had. Slapped on an 80 grit I ordered for grinding metal.
I really have to push hard to get any grinding and it sparks like it's still hard.

I checked the bar with a magnet in 3 spots when I was heating up. Maybe I should heat up again.

BTW I'm using a makeshift charcoal "forge". (BBQ lined with refractory cement and a blower)
 
try reheating it then packing it in vermiculite/pearlite so it can cool down overnight - should be plenty soft after that.
 
+1 on what 1066 said. you primitivly normalized it. to anneal you need to cool S-L-O-W-L-Y!!!! also most steel comes already annealed. you may be taking an unessasary step.

Jason
 
The "cool down" when annealing has to be very slow, and not air cooled.

I've done all my annealing GreenPete style: hot coals in campfire, lay steel in coals, stack lots of small dry wood on top, let it burn up ans dig out the blade the next day. Low tech.
 
Angus McGunnigl said:
The "cool down" when annealing has to be very slow, and not air cooled.

I've done all my annealing GreenPete style: hot coals in campfire, lay steel in coals, stack lots of small dry wood on top, let it burn up ans dig out the blade the next day. Low tech.
Click to expand...

I did some files in a small fire I made in a pit and they took three days to cool down!

Next time, even smaller fire...
 
I used to bury my low-allow steels in old ashes in a bucket (after heating in the forge) to anneal. For even slower cooling you can heat a couple of pieces of scrap and put them 2 or 3 inches apart in the ashes first, then put the piece you want to anneal between them.
 
I just buy my steel annealed....lol. As a hobby maker in the suburbs, that just sounds like too much of a headache for me right now.
 
That 4x36 with an 80 grit is NOT going to work quickly at all, just not the right machine and an 80 grit is going to be fairly slow anyway. 80's more to refine curves or bevels than do rough shaping. It seems fairly course, but it's not aggressive enough for most stock.

I work in 1/8" 1080 most of the time and use 36 grit for profiling and roughing in bevels. 60 to clean up curves on the profile and generally cleanup all the 36 grit marks. then 120 and up for cleanup. I could use 80 where I use 60, but it just works out to be cheapest so far to use 60 for that.

In general you want to cut your profile at least roughly, if you're trying to grind from a rectangle of steel into a knife you're wasting a lot of time and belts. I did it a couple times before I wised up. Now I understand why most of the folks here drool over the fancy metal cutting band saws.
 
lol I use 80, 320, 600 for my blades. 80 cuts fast enough. and you dont have to spend all that time taken out those 36 grit gouges! :eek: If you cant get 80 to cut fast enough, look into bumping up your surface feet per minute. mine's spinning at 2230 SFPM at 355 RPM (24" wheel) take me all of 1/2 hour to go through all 3 grits.

my $0.02

Jason
 
Lol, read so many of them that i confused myself ha ha. I did manage to grind with the 80 pretty well, just slowly in my case. Doesn't look bad to me so far.
Love this forum. Thanks all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top