When to heat treat magnacut

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Lcarlile7

Joined
Dec 23, 2023
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Ok so first time working with Magnacut, and also going to be my first time sending a knife into Peters heat treat(I dont even want to try heat treating this stuff). Do yall grind the bevels in your mc blade before or after heat treatment? Is there anything I should look out for because I've only worked with 52100 and 1095
 
Depends on the type of blade. If it's a big thick chopper or something, then I would do some pre-HT grinding. If it's a thin kitchen knife, then I would do all the grinding post-HT. If it's somewhere in the middle, like 1/8" thick hunter or something, I would probably get the bevels established before sending them out, but that's about it.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Michael Black said:
Depends on the type of blade. If it's a big thick chopper or something, then I would do some pre-HT grinding. If it's a thin kitchen knife, then I would do all the grinding post-HT. If it's somewhere in the middle, like 1/8" thick hunter or something, I would probably get the bevels established before sending them out, but that's about it.

Just my 2 cents.
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aiming for an end thickness of .150-.160”
 
I have made four blades with Magnacut. Two of those were successful, meaning they're presentable, cut well and hold an edge. Both of those were ground post heat treatment. The two that were failures were ground before heat treatment. One of them cracked when I tried to straighten it. The edge had baconed and the blade had a twist. The second one was successfully straightened, but I screwed up the bevels grinding it and it's fugly (sharp, but really fugly).
 
HPD said:
I have made four blades with Magnacut. Two of those were successful, meaning they're presentable, cut well and hold an edge. Both of those were ground post heat treatment. The two that were failures were ground before heat treatment. One of them cracked when I tried to straighten it. The edge had baconed and the blade had a twist. The second one was successfully straightened, but I screwed up the bevels grinding it and it's fugly (sharp, but really fugly).
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Thanks for the straightforward answer. This is what I was looking for
 
I've sent at least 10 blades in Magnacut to Peters. According to their instructions you can leave it pretty thin. I took them all to around 0.025" before heat treatment and didn't have any problems.
 
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Lcarlile7 said:
aiming for an end thickness of .150-.160”
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Personally I wouldn't grind anything before HT on something like that, but in general I prefer to grind mostly after HT. Certainly wouldn't hurt to do a little grinding beforehand, as long as you left some meat on the bones.
 
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Lcarlile7 said:
Thanks for the straightforward answer. This is what I was looking for
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FYI, a drawback to grinding Magnacut after heat treatment is finishing it. The vanadium and niobium carbides make it a pain to finish. They're a bit pricey, but I recommend 3M diamond lapping film for finishing.

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Personally I like getting the bevels started before ht. I just grind 10dps to a 0.020 edge. Not a whole lot of grinding but I find it does make my post ht grinding easier. If I used a jig I might feel different but I free hand.
 
3/32 or thinner blades I may or not depending on my mood.

1/8th inch and thicker I'll start some sort of bevel. Usually 1/4 height.

Kitchen knives I'll do a half height bevel.
 
I’ve always ground before heat treat. Never had an issue! I don’t do final edges till after. My process has worked well for me! I go through enough belts as it is. I couldn’t imagine grinding everything post heat treat! Besides, I’d worry about ruining tempers!
 
I've made a number of kitchen knives in MagnaCut, around .100 to begin with, always heat treated then ground. I am also working on a couple of hunters in MagnaCut that are a good bit thicker, I'm grinding post heat treat but I do use a misting system to keep everything cool.
 
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