Edge Thickness

[SHostetler]

I've been lurking here for some time gleening all the information that I could. It has enabled me to get a good start, but I have one problem that has been troubling me.

How thick should the edge be before heat treat and how thick after heat treat before sharpening? I realize that the intended usage enters into this equation as does the type of steel to be used. Right now I am using primarily O-1, 1095, and ATS-34.

I appreciate any info you all can provide.

Regards,
Steve

[Don Cowles]

I aim for a thickness of .020" before heat treat. Of course, the thickness is still .020" after HT, but it gets a hair thinner during finish grinding.

Any thinner, and you risk some form of warpage. Too thick, and it makes for more grinding aft HT, which can cause some heat problems in some cases.

[Ray Rogers]

I do all my grinding after heat treat. As Don points out, this can cause problems in some cases, mostly the carbon steels, but taking extra effort to keep the blade cool can control that pretty well. For stainless steels, it seems to be no problem at all.

Once finished, an edge thickness of .020 for a heavy use knife is about right but you might go a bit thicker for a knife intended for major whacking. An edge of .010 for thinner light use knives is common. Some edges will be thicker than these numbers and some will be thinner, there's no fixed rule to it, although the vast majority will end up .020 or less...

[balibalistic]

I generally grind a 90 degree bevel prior to heatreat to mark my edge.i leave it at about .020.then after heatreat i take the grind up with a 50 grit belt to the .020 edge..,then switch to 220,400 ect. so finished edge is between .010 - .015.

[Jeremy Krammes]

Before HT I just establish somewhat of a grind line with 60 grit. It is still pretty thick. I go down to .015 before sharpening on my folders. I mostly use CPM 154 and S-30-V.

Jeremy