Welding pre or post HT and hardened butt plate question

[Hengelo_77]

One of the knives I´m working om will have a hardened butt plate.
I plan to weld a piece of all threat to the end of the tang.
Can this be done post HT?
That way all thread thicker then the ricasso can be used, or should it be done pre HT?
I have a very simple and small electrode welder.

I want the hardened butt plate to be usable for light hammering tasks.
My idea is to lose a few points of hardness and gain toughness. Is that a good idea? I was thinking around 57/58 hrc

 

[quint]

If its welding then you could do it before. I have brazed the few I have done so do it post HT with the blade suspended in a jar of water that way the tang is the only thing that gets hot.

 

[SteelSlaver]

If welding carbon to high carbon heat both pieces to 500f and weld with 7018 and then heat to dull red and let cool. A normalizing cycle would be beside. Same with stainless except use 309 rod. If properly Preweld heated and post weld stress relieved it is a very strong joint. It amazes me that some people who make various damascus mixes think you can not weld high carbon steels by other processes.

 

[A C Richards]

It needs to be done pre heat treat. I made a couple of belt buckles and welded the furniture on the back after HT. Then I etched and a noticeable difference in the weld zone was evident. I needed to normalize again and re-HT. It all evened out after that.