- Joined
- Mar 22, 2014
- Messages
- 5,173
Heat treatment is a big investment in time equipment.
Knife making is a total money pit so it's understandable to want to keep the cost down with so many consumables needed just to make a humble cutting implement.
I am not making argument for "blowtorch" heat treatment but for investing into the serious equipment to heat treatment in house which I feel is very important.
If I had to narrow it down there are 4 big reasons to invest into a solid heat treatment furnace with good tempature control and range, a Rockwell tester, surface grinder and dewar.
4. "Make it yours"
"Do you do your own Heat Treatment?"
That's a question I was asked recently from a customer and it really set the tone as being a professional at what you do and building value. While heat treatment is only one component of the many things that make a excellent knife it's one of things that "makes the maker" and the knife truly yours; creates the "soul" of the blade as many have said before.
3. Freedom
A maker is no longer at the mercy of someone else's schedule and the post service to get their blades done. They no longer have to rely on the experience or lack there of with heat treatment service providers, that freedom is hard to put into words.
2. Ensure the highest level of performance
When knives are sent off to Heat treatment services they only ask what the steel is and desired HRC the problem is that there are hundreds of ways on getting the same HRC but that doesn't show what the microstructure is.
Often time there is extreme tunnel vision on a specific HRC having certain properties yet zero discussion on carbon in solution, retained austenite, etc which are HUGE factors to the mechanical properties of the steel.
So, the prior processing to austenitizing, austenitizing time and temp and what's done after quench are huge factors that shouldn't be left to the convenience of a heat treatment service that's also just chasing what the rockwell tester says sometimes without regard to the other factors.
1. Actually build an understanding of how things work and be able to think critically.
It's difficult to understand what is pertinent information and what is an extraneous detail.
Doing something is what separates what's relevant and what's not as significant.
Steel is fascinating and mysterious and heat treating allows you a window into the secret world of what makes the magic happen.
Hope that helps folks that are on the fence about either doing their own Heat treatment and or sending off. I know I was on the fence about it a while back and it was the best decision I ever made.
4 more reasons to do you're own HT.
8. Know whats being done.
Assume Nothing,
Unless you've seen it being done there is no guarantee it's being done. The only thing you receive when getting knives back from HT is the HRC.
There is no evaluation of Charpy values, Carbon in solution, austenitizing temp and time adjusting and tuning, just what ever is used to get the desired HRC.
Some operations are also very casual about HRC testing and don't use best practices for ruling out hardness values and can be rather cavalier. However, It's important to not just have experience but to also stay fresh up on the ASTM and ISO standards and keeping equipment up to date, in good condition and clean while most importantly using best practices.
7. Fine tuning performance
This is one of my favorite reasons, when one starts to build enough of their own HT data to see what changes in HT will have the desired effect performance, not just HRC. From building a chopper to a fine edged razor, it's nice to be able to mold the given steel to the desired preference and use.
6. Exotic steel fever
If you want to play with exotic steels they need to be characterized for best performance versus shooting from the hip. Most heat treatment operations only see about 10 different steels with a majority of them being AEB-L, so they don't have the data to run exotic alloys not is it cost effective for them to fine tune them to maximum potential.
I have a piece of Vanax 75, it would be a crime to send that out for HT since its such a rare piece of exotic steel that is irreplaceable.
5. Batch to Batch variation.
There is always inherent variation in batch to batch chemistry. One of the joys of doing one's own HT is that each batch can be characterized and tuned to adjust for differences in what's going into solution due to alloy variation.
Knife making is a total money pit so it's understandable to want to keep the cost down with so many consumables needed just to make a humble cutting implement.
I am not making argument for "blowtorch" heat treatment but for investing into the serious equipment to heat treatment in house which I feel is very important.
If I had to narrow it down there are 4 big reasons to invest into a solid heat treatment furnace with good tempature control and range, a Rockwell tester, surface grinder and dewar.
4. "Make it yours"
"Do you do your own Heat Treatment?"
That's a question I was asked recently from a customer and it really set the tone as being a professional at what you do and building value. While heat treatment is only one component of the many things that make a excellent knife it's one of things that "makes the maker" and the knife truly yours; creates the "soul" of the blade as many have said before.
3. Freedom
A maker is no longer at the mercy of someone else's schedule and the post service to get their blades done. They no longer have to rely on the experience or lack there of with heat treatment service providers, that freedom is hard to put into words.
2. Ensure the highest level of performance
When knives are sent off to Heat treatment services they only ask what the steel is and desired HRC the problem is that there are hundreds of ways on getting the same HRC but that doesn't show what the microstructure is.
Often time there is extreme tunnel vision on a specific HRC having certain properties yet zero discussion on carbon in solution, retained austenite, etc which are HUGE factors to the mechanical properties of the steel.
So, the prior processing to austenitizing, austenitizing time and temp and what's done after quench are huge factors that shouldn't be left to the convenience of a heat treatment service that's also just chasing what the rockwell tester says sometimes without regard to the other factors.
1. Actually build an understanding of how things work and be able to think critically.
It's difficult to understand what is pertinent information and what is an extraneous detail.
Doing something is what separates what's relevant and what's not as significant.
Steel is fascinating and mysterious and heat treating allows you a window into the secret world of what makes the magic happen.
Hope that helps folks that are on the fence about either doing their own Heat treatment and or sending off. I know I was on the fence about it a while back and it was the best decision I ever made.
4 more reasons to do you're own HT.
8. Know whats being done.
Assume Nothing,
Unless you've seen it being done there is no guarantee it's being done. The only thing you receive when getting knives back from HT is the HRC.
There is no evaluation of Charpy values, Carbon in solution, austenitizing temp and time adjusting and tuning, just what ever is used to get the desired HRC.
Some operations are also very casual about HRC testing and don't use best practices for ruling out hardness values and can be rather cavalier. However, It's important to not just have experience but to also stay fresh up on the ASTM and ISO standards and keeping equipment up to date, in good condition and clean while most importantly using best practices.
7. Fine tuning performance
This is one of my favorite reasons, when one starts to build enough of their own HT data to see what changes in HT will have the desired effect performance, not just HRC. From building a chopper to a fine edged razor, it's nice to be able to mold the given steel to the desired preference and use.
6. Exotic steel fever
If you want to play with exotic steels they need to be characterized for best performance versus shooting from the hip. Most heat treatment operations only see about 10 different steels with a majority of them being AEB-L, so they don't have the data to run exotic alloys not is it cost effective for them to fine tune them to maximum potential.
I have a piece of Vanax 75, it would be a crime to send that out for HT since its such a rare piece of exotic steel that is irreplaceable.
5. Batch to Batch variation.
There is always inherent variation in batch to batch chemistry. One of the joys of doing one's own HT is that each batch can be characterized and tuned to adjust for differences in what's going into solution due to alloy variation.
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