As most of you know I am a forge person, however I do a little stock removel. The question is dose anyone of you grind after
profiling and heat treating on any blade larger than a folding knife. Gib

I learned to grind before heat treat. Maybe jsut in the habit. It's certainly got to be faster, especially on a large blade. I'd hate to grind a big bear-type after hardening. Smaller blades go OK, and I do so on folders, again, that's how Mr. Smith and Mr. Doggett taught me.

Thanks for the reply, as I have to figure it out by my self, hence the question. I have done grinding before heat treat till I ground a very large fishing knife (14" blade) out of 440C the other day and it went so well I wanted to know what others do. Gib

Gib, I do all my grinding before HT down to about 320 grit.I then just handsand from there.Dave

Some guys totally finish their blades prior to heat treat. I generally leave mine with a rough 50X finish, with the edge about .050-.060"" thick so that I can grind it straight if it warps during heat treat. This (warping) is pretty rare these days, with the great heat treaters we have, but it does happen. Keep experimenting.

I'll do about 90% of the knife prior to heat treating-Dan

I was taught to grind after heat treat mainly because I learned to make knives from folder makers. Now that my grinds are much better, I would not worry too much about grinding fixed blades before heat treat. BG-42 warps super easy so it has been one of the steels I would never grind before heat treat. I haven't tried it yet, but the new stuff like S30V is absolutely essential to grind and pretty much finish before heat treat.

Why doesn' this keep the heading whe one replys? Is it just me?

As mentioned, I've always ground prior to Heat treat. Maybe because I was taught that way, or maybe just to get them out of my hair, get them back and ready to finish. To each his own, unless, like Bob says, the steel or the process demands it one way or the other. The heat treaters nowadays ar better than way back when, I'll tell you.

I have always done about 90% of the work before H/T, simply because it is much easier to work soft, and my tools last longer as well.
This came about AFTER I got my own heat treating capabilities though. For me, I can get more work done in the same amount of time working the metal soft.

I'm sure that's correct. It's just that old habits are hard to break. Thanks, Gene.