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Heat Treating and Metallurgy Discussion of heat treatment and metallurgy in knife making.

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Old 08-12-2012, 06:16 AM
Rln_21 Rln_21 is offline
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Question for the pro's

I have had this fixed blade for probably 15 years and have rarely found a use for it as I didn't like the blade profile (its actually the first knife I ever purchased). I decided to re-profile the blade shape and the handle a bit to a profile I have been wanting to try, I'll make a set of G10 scales to replace the plastic ones that were on there from the factory. I marked out what I wanted and ground it down to shape. Because I didn't anneal it I was extremely careful to go slow and not induce heat into the blade, no part of the blade got hot enough that I couldn't touch it with my bare hands.




And, the question for the knife pro's.
This knife has a full thickness handle (~.155") but from the ricosso/choil to the tip, the blade tapers in thickness to the point. I can't tell whether it was just ground off center or if the blade was bent (possibly during heat treat?) but the blade veers pretty sharply to the right. Even though it is tapered; if you lay it on a flat surface on its right side the full length is basically flat against the surface, if you lay it on the left side the entire blade length is suspended because of the taper and bend...

So, the question of the day is if I anneal the blade, can it be bent straight and then clean up the full flat grind to center everything? I have looked up the technical specs on the steel from the steel manufacturer and since I have access to an electronically controlled kiln I believe I can anneal the steel exactly as they specify (it needs to be heated then cooled at a precisely falling rate for a very long time). This is AUS-8A steel, as I understand it it falls roughly in between 440B and 440C in specs and has a similar makeup with the addition of some vanadium. I believe I read that one of the main features of this steel vs the 440 series is that it can flex easier. I can probably figure out how to heat treat it properly or I would send it to someone who does know afterwards...
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Old 08-23-2012, 07:54 AM
Gary Mulkey's Avatar
Gary Mulkey Gary Mulkey is offline
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The answer to your direct question is that once annealled, it should be easy enough to straighten the blade. Assuming that the H/T was done correctly, the most common cause for a bent blade is an uneven grind so I would check the blade carefully looking for this before starting. If you find that the bevels aren't equal & centered then I would suggest correcting this before doing another H/T.

If I understand you correctly it sounds like the bent area is in the ricosso area with the blade being pretty much straight from there. If so, something that might correct this (if the bend isn't too bad) without doing another H/T would be to taper the tang from one side only, leaving you a tapered tang that is straight to the blade. Just be careful not to heat the blade beyond the tempering temperature while doing this.

Gary


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Last edited by Gary Mulkey; 08-23-2012 at 08:05 AM.
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Old 08-23-2012, 09:28 AM
Ed Tipton Ed Tipton is offline
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RLN21...From reading your post, it seems as though you are not certain as to whether the blade is actually bent...or if it has been mis-ground.
Before doing anything, I would try and determine which one is actually the source of the problem.
If the blade is actually bent, you may be able to heat it to somewhere near 400 degrees, and straighten it without actually doing a full anneal. This is something that you can try...just be aware that you may alter the original HT to some extent...but it could still be satisfactory.
If the problem turns out to be a mis-grind then you may be able to correct the problem by carefully re-grinding.
In either case...if too much heat is introduced into the blade then it will need to be re-hardened and HT all over again....which really is no big deal since the scales are not on the blade yet.
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