So I'm grinding my profile and overheated the blade edge. Help! :-)

J

Jeff Zimba

Joined
Feb 29, 2016
Messages
81
After learning so many helpful hints here, I've spent a whole day in the forge. Thanks to so many of you, I learned that on the current 1x30 I'm running, since I have no wheel to work with, its difficult to get a proper grind. Knowing what I didn't know, I couldn't wait to try some helpful hints.

Anyway, I was finally able, for the first time, to get that profile I've tried so many times. (thanks to this forum). On the last pass, using 400gr belt, (everything was looking fantastic), I got a little close to the edge and 2 spots turned dark.

So, This is all before heat treating so I'm wondering if I can salvage it.

What say you, my master, hudu-guru, knife masters? Can it be saved?

Thanks in advance!

Jeff (knuckle dragging trigger puller & student of the knife.)
 
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Shouldn't this be in the maker's (shop talk) forum? They could give better advice than most of us users.
 
Nah, your fine.
Prior to heat treat, bring it up to non-magnetic and let it cool to black (color, not temp), then do another heat up to just below your last temp (barely magnetic) and cool back down to black, now a third cycle but cooler still then cool to black. Now do your heat treat cycle heat/quench/temper and you are good to go to.

What you are doing is refining and shrinking the grain size. This will allow you to get more from your HT via a more fine grained structure, this will allow you to put a finer edge on your knife and possibly adding a small toughness.
Even though I keep my edges cool, I still do this as part of my HT regimen as a safety net. If done right, It can't hurt and only helps.

Tldr: your fine, do a thermal cycle prior to ht.
 
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Always after forging do the three cycle Normalizing treatment ! That makes for a uniform grain and small grain throughout the piece. Do the bulk of the grinding before this. Then do the final heat treating .Then the final grinding which should be done wet to prevent overheating .
 
Moving to shop talk...
 
Having a few colors running out on you pre-heat isn't a big deal at all. It's the post-heat treat finishing passes that you want to be careful on. Using fresh, sharp belts and dunking into a water bucket after every pass should keep it cool enough. Don't try to hog material or press too hard, and that will help too.

I agree with the others as well: running through a normalization cycle is a good idea.
 
Thank you Mr. Riley. I'm completely self taught and I greatly appreciate all your help.
 
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