Where is the best place to send just a few stainless blades for heat treat?

LARRYZ10

LARRYZ10

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Feb 6, 2010
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I often only have only four or five stainless steel blades that need heat treating. Where is the best place to send them for quality and price? I no longer wish to use the company that I had been using but I do not want to name them either. Opinions please. Thanks, Larry
 
"Best" is a subjective word and I'm sure many here will say the same. I use Jeff Mutz at Tru Grit and have been happy so far. Very fairly priced. IIRC there's a break on the price once you get to 10 blades. I hear great things about Peter's Heat Treat but haven't used them yet. I probably will for a big chopper I'm going to do soon.
 
For a few knives i use texas knife maker, seem to alway do a good job, and always good service. Note the time when the blade must arrive to get into the next batch!
 
I've worked with a few heat treaters. I much prefer Peter's heat treating to all others.

I have lots of stories about Brad at Peters solving problems, correcting others bad heat treating, developing new heat treat recipes for steel companies, etc. The latest story was a heat treater who said we incorrectly marked CPM M4 when they said it was 420HC. The heat treater said they could only get the steel to 52 HRC. The steel was returned to us and we had it tested. The test results said M4. We sent the steel back to the steel company and they tested it twice. Again the test results were M4. We sent the steel to Brad at Peters and asked him to heat treat it as M4. Brad heat treated the steel to HRC 62. The steel was returned to a happy customer.

Our time is worth too much to waste. We must have repeatable, reliable results. The price is irrelevant if the results are flawed. This is why we use and recommend Peters.

Chuck
 
Patrick, You said Texas Knife seems to do a good job. Have you ever checked the Rockwell hardness on a blade returned from them? Larry
 
If a person has spent many hours making a knife, has invested in steel/tools/supplies/handle material/etc., and wishes to make the best knife possible .....trying to save $10 in HT is just plain silly.

If a single blade costs $25 from a top quality heat treater like Peter's, then that is money well spent. Trying to find a person to do it for $15 and not test the blade or get maximum hardness/straightness could be wasting money, not saving it.

The cost drops appreciably with five blades and gets downright cheap at 10-20 blades.
 
LARRYZ10 said:
Patrick, You said Texas Knife seems to do a good job. Have you ever checked the Rockwell hardness on a blade returned from them? Larry
Click to expand...

I did my first knife there. It was 56Rc, 4 points lower than requested(S90V folder blade). I'm now a happy Peters HT customer.

I never contacted them about it, as I wanted to find a company that left me with more confidence. Even though I wouldn't go back for HT services, I have no problem purchasing parts from them still.
 
I had a S35VN bladed heat treated at Texas Knifemaker's Supply about 2 weeks ago. I asked them to test the hardness and they said it tested at 61Rc. I use them because they are local and it gives me an opportunity to hand pick handle materials.

If I have more than one or two blades, I send them to Peters.

Mike L.
 
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