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High-Performance Blades Sharing ideas for getting the most out of our steel.

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  #1  
Old 08-20-2005, 05:17 PM
ErnieB ErnieB is offline
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AST-34 Question

Hello Everybody,
This is my first excursion to this part of the forum but after reading some of the posts, I thought perhaps it may be the best place to ask these questions.

I'm a newbie to the knifemaking fraternity, having only roughed a couple of knives out of O-1 via the stock removal method, hardened with the torch, quenched in vet-grade min. oil and tempered in my spanking-new toaster oven. However, I've decided to give this piece of ATS-34 I got my hands on a try. My question is, as I'm grinding/sanding/filing the blade to shape, at what percentage of finished should I stop before I send it off to the heat treater for the HT? I'm especially concerned about the edge as I fear I'll get it too thin and ruin it during the HT - OR - I'll leave it too thick and never be able to finish getting ground on down to sharp once its HT'd. Also, as I do with the O-1, should I keep sticking it in the water bucket every few laps across the grinder belt while I'm grinding the blade to shape? In closing, what is left to be done on your SS knives after HT?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Ernie B
from Maryland
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  #2  
Old 08-20-2005, 07:57 PM
Don Robinson's Avatar
Don Robinson Don Robinson is offline
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Location: Brownsville, Texas
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ErnieB
Hello Everybody,
This is my first excursion to this part of the forum but after reading some of the posts, I thought perhaps it may be the best place to ask these questions.

I'm a newbie to the knifemaking fraternity, having only roughed a couple of knives out of O-1 via the stock removal method, hardened with the torch, quenched in vet-grade min. oil and tempered in my spanking-new toaster oven. However, I've decided to give this piece of ATS-34 I got my hands on a try. My question is, as I'm grinding/sanding/filing the blade to shape, at what percentage of finished should I stop before I send it off to the heat treater for the HT? I'm especially concerned about the edge as I fear I'll get it too thin and ruin it during the HT - OR - I'll leave it too thick and never be able to finish getting ground on down to sharp once its HT'd. Also, as I do with the O-1, should I keep sticking it in the water bucket every few laps across the grinder belt while I'm grinding the blade to shape? In closing, what is left to be done on your SS knives after HT?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Ernie B
from Maryland

Hello, Ernie. I lived in Aberdeen and Havre De Grace for 3 years in the 50's.

To answer your questions, I grind my blades to leave an edge thickness around .020 to .025" before heat treating.

I use a 60 micron belt for the final grind before heat treat.

No problem at all with cooling the blade in water as you grind.

After heat treat, I lightly clean up the blade with a new 60 micron belt, then satin finish by hand with sand paper.

All that's left to do then is mark the blade and sharpen the edge, again with a 60 micron belt followed by stropping the burr off on a barber's old razor strop.
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Old 08-20-2005, 08:26 PM
ErnieB ErnieB is offline
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Thanks for the info, Don, it was very helpful. Re: living in MD, I live just west of Frederick between Middletown and 2 miles north of Burkittsville, home of the movie, the Blair Witch.

Ernie
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Old 08-21-2005, 08:43 AM
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Don Robinson Don Robinson is offline
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Yeah, I thought so.
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Old 08-21-2005, 09:49 PM
pjelect pjelect is offline
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Location: Madison, Ohio
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Ernie, I just take my blades to about 3/4 finish grind, smooth them out to around 320 grit and then heat treat. I used to darn near finish the whole knife before heat treat but I found out(after much resistance) that I can finish the knife better after heat treat. Experiment with both ideas and see which one you find better to your liking. Pat

Last edited by pjelect; 08-21-2005 at 09:53 PM.
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