When to heat treat thin stuff?

S

sattley

Joined
Aug 15, 2001
Messages
148
I've got some 3/32" and 1/16" ATS-34. I was wondering when the best time to heat treat it is? After profiling or after beveling? Thought I might make some good kitchen knives out of it, but have never messed with the thin stuff, just wondered which is best.
Thanks
Leonard
 
I use 1/16 all the time and heat treat after grinding. That way if I overheat during grinding (very easy to do with this thickness) no harm is done.
 
I usually heat treat after grinding but I aways leave my blades thick to reduce chance of warpage. If you hold the blade in your hand you won't have any problems with grinder heating affecting the tempering. Tempering range on ats is 950 degrees so you'll dunk it well before that. :)

Regards
 
Actually there are two tempering ranges for ATS-34. 350f and 950f lots of knife makers seem to perfer the 950f temper so they can really hog off material and not worry about affecting the temper. But the real truth is the 350f temper gives the steel a better overall structure and edge retention. I personnaly grind all my small/thin blades after heat treat. This allows me to take out any warpage before grinding and since I work mostly in damascus its nessasay to regrind my flats to expose fresh clean material due to de-carburation during heat treat.
 
I agree with Art. According to Hitachi's sheet, you loose corrosion resistance when you use the higher temper. I discovered that the hard way about 10 years ago.
 
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