The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need. |
04-17-2006, 01:47 AM
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Skilled
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: victoria, Australia
Posts: 649
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will an angle grinder ruin it??
hey guys, i have a bar of 440c that im using and i was going to use a hand held angle grinder to cut the very basic profile and also cut the tang(hidden tang)my problem is that when i cut it heats the steel right beside the cut to a bright orange and i was wondring if this will ruin the steel at all, its pre heat treat so thats no issue. what im really woried about is burning out the carbon or putting in stresses that might crack the blade during heat treating. if it matters its stock removal and will be treated by the pro's, this is only my second stainless blade and the other is still a WIP so im not sure what to expect from stainles, VS the recycled carbon steels i've been using
any help apreciated as always.
Brett
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04-17-2006, 08:29 AM
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Founding Member / Moderator
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Wauconda, WA
Posts: 9,840
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I can't swear that it will ruin the steel but it certainly can't do it any good. It will introduce stresses and it will change the structure of some of the steel but how serious that may be will depend on the shape and thickness of the areas where the angle grinder is used, how hot it gets, how close the burnt areas are to the final shape, etc .....a whole lot of things no one can predict. All these things will also be true of the carbon steel you have previously used. So, if you are happy with the results you got with carbon steel you probably will be happy with the stainless results. Still, the your results will be even better when you are able to find a cooler way to shape your steel ....
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04-17-2006, 09:22 AM
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Enthusiast
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 67
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re: angle grinder
your better off anneling & draw filing the blank than using an angle grinder. takes time but one of the marks of a true craftsman is the capability to use a file & make practically anything. after filing you can take the excess marks off via arkansas soft then graduate up to smooth it out. thats the best method witj few tools i personally have worked out. being a gunsmith i had to learn to do about everything with a file before going to machine methods. hope this will help a bit . tom
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04-17-2006, 10:36 AM
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Master
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Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: shreveport, La. 71105
Posts: 991
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From what I understand is that the steel is annealed now as bought. If that is correct, you can use the grinder to profile the blade but oversize the cuts were you can grind off the area that got hot. As far as any edge grinding, I would not do that with an air harden steel. Just my 2 cents.
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04-17-2006, 06:55 PM
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Enthusiast
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Elbert, Colorado
Posts: 90
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Guess that rules out a plasma cutter then .
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04-18-2006, 03:30 AM
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Skilled
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: victoria, Australia
Posts: 649
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i plan on profiling the blade and grinding the bavels on my multi tool its just that because the bar is a rectangle obviously there is alot of steel to remove neer the tip and to get the tang i just wanted to lop those big chunks off, i usually use a hacksaw but it cuts crooked for some reason and im lazy
brett
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04-22-2006, 12:32 PM
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Skilled
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Waller,TX
Posts: 293
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brett
basic profiling with an angle grinder was how i did all my blades before i had access to a band saw you can grind down to about 1/8" of the finish profile and then finish with belt sander and even files when i wanted to save belts i would file off the last 1/8" or so with a large mill file. never had a problem with the blades warping or cracking during heat treat
Stan
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04-23-2006, 03:47 AM
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Master
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Cebu, Philippines (or Michigan, USA)
Posts: 909
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do you own a drill press? if so chuck in a 1/4"ish bit and drill out the profile. you can then connect the holes with a hacksaw or cold chisel. with practice you can space them just right and the excess steel can be broken off without worrying about bending the blank. pretty quick method with no heat worries.
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04-23-2006, 04:49 AM
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Skilled
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: victoria, Australia
Posts: 649
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i ended up buying one of those really thin cut off blades and it was the best decision i ever made, because its thiner it takes of less material so it cuts waaaaay quicker like 1/5 of the time! and it had no where neer the heat build up of the thicker blades, on a 1/2 inch long cut, i could touch it straight after and on a longer(maybe 1.5") it only took about 5 secs to cool down to where i could touch it. so i figure if i can touch it so soon, there cant have been much heat build up at all, best 2 bucks i ever spent.
brett
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