I am hoping some of the wise heads here can advise me.
What I have done is made a through tang blade which I attempted to rat tail and thread the last inch or so this failed due to my crappy quality dies, so I cut off the rubbish threaded rat tail and cut a kind of T shaped slot into which with a bit of filing I have slotted in a stainless bolt, Ive seen this method used for some of the flash take-downs presented here. I don't have the ability or the tools to weld or solder and was intending on peening/flaring the head of the bolt into the T shaped slot it, fits pretty snugly but I wanted no wiggle and just to be extra sure, I don't intend on the knife being a take down just as strong and secure as possible.
Now my question is should I do this before or after heat treat? The blade is 440C and will be pro heat treated. My concerns are if I do it before heat treat the tightly peened head may cause stress and maybe fracture around the relatively thin surrounds left in the tang, about 3/16th on either side, or the thread on the bolt being 304 stainless may be damaged by the high heat. Or if I do it after heat treat and get a bit heavy handed with the peening I may again snap the surrounding material as stainless really doesn't like to flex or bend. I know this would be better explained with pictures but I'm unable to post any. So anyway advice from those that have done this style of tang extension would be greatly appreciated.
What I have done is made a through tang blade which I attempted to rat tail and thread the last inch or so this failed due to my crappy quality dies, so I cut off the rubbish threaded rat tail and cut a kind of T shaped slot into which with a bit of filing I have slotted in a stainless bolt, Ive seen this method used for some of the flash take-downs presented here. I don't have the ability or the tools to weld or solder and was intending on peening/flaring the head of the bolt into the T shaped slot it, fits pretty snugly but I wanted no wiggle and just to be extra sure, I don't intend on the knife being a take down just as strong and secure as possible.
Now my question is should I do this before or after heat treat? The blade is 440C and will be pro heat treated. My concerns are if I do it before heat treat the tightly peened head may cause stress and maybe fracture around the relatively thin surrounds left in the tang, about 3/16th on either side, or the thread on the bolt being 304 stainless may be damaged by the high heat. Or if I do it after heat treat and get a bit heavy handed with the peening I may again snap the surrounding material as stainless really doesn't like to flex or bend. I know this would be better explained with pictures but I'm unable to post any. So anyway advice from those that have done this style of tang extension would be greatly appreciated.