heat treat question

[Omega]

hi all, happy holidays......... i just finished cutting out an ivy design in a blade, my question is should i flat grind the blade before or after heat treat, i normally do it before, but im afraid of any warpage due to the carved blade.


thanks bill

[Ray Rogers]

It might work either way, or it might not. Did you introduce any stress into the blade when you carved it? No one could know. Are your flat grinds perfectly balanced? Warpage is always a possibility, even if you grind after heat treat.

Best thing I can think of is do whatever you want to the blade - grind, carve, whatever - and then anneal and stress relieve it very thoroughly before heat treat. It might still warp some but it's your best shot ....

[Omega]

nope no real stress during carving, how do you anneal and stress relieve ss?

thanks bill

[Ray Rogers]

Same way as carbon steel - heat it to the proper temperature for that steel and cool at the prescribe rate, it's different for every steel. Generally, it's a very slow process that can take up to 16 hours. You need to look at the factory specs for your steel to see what they recommend for annealing. Generally, it will be something like "heat to 1700 degrees, then allow to cool to 1100 degrees at a rate of 25 degrees per hour" or some such thing....

[Omega]

hmmmmm, cant really do that at home, maybe ill just send it and see what happens
bill