When to polish, and how deep in the forge?

[Robert_Phelps]

Ok, I should be nearing the last of my questions

-Do you polish before, or after you heat treat? (Or, do you polish to some degree before, then some after?)
-And does that same thing go for a clay coated, differentially tempered blade?

-One of the first knives I'm making is a full tang grafting knife (A small knife for making clean cuts on tree limbs under a half an inch, or so.) So, it's a lot of tang, and two inches or so of blade. How deep into the one-brick forge do I push that? (The blade sits right at the fire hole when I push it in up the the tang area.)
-Is it bad to heat treat the tang?
-If I'm just supposed to push it all the way in, do I just not quench the tang?

-Lastly, would it even out the heat some in the one-brick forge, to place bits of brick (say, two pieces, 1" wide, and as tall as the brick, one on each side of the heat hole) so it makes the hole narrower?

Thanks again. Looking forward to posting pictures of my first knives when they're through

 

[Mungo Park]

Blue:
I tried to send you some photos but the message comes back, did you enter the right e mail?
Cheers Ron.

 

[Robert_Phelps]

My email is prolixartist@hotmail.com

..if that doesn't work you could always get a free photobucket account and post them here.

 

[Robert_Phelps]

I hate to keep bumping my thread, but I really need an answer to:

-Do you polish before, or after you heat treat? (Or, do you polish to some degree before, then some after?)

I'm in a speech class, and I have a "demonstration speech" due tomorrow, on making a knife, and I need to know.

Thanks

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Before HT you sand to a fairly smooth finish ,220 to 400 grit is fine.There is no point in polishing,since you will have to regrind after the HT.You just need to get all the big scratches out.
In a carbon steel blade,the final grind should be to about 85% done ,leaving a little bit extra metal to grind off the layer of decarb after HT.The edge should be around .040" thick.
In a stainless blade that will have the HT done in a controlled atmosphere oven ,or salts,you can grind to nearly finished and sand to 600 grit or finer.A few makers who do a bang up good job of HT on their stainless can finish the blade and polish it before HT.They have to re-polish it afterward,but it is fast work.You still need to leave the edge a bit thick to allow enough metal to grind off the decarb on the edge when sharpening.
Stacy