Too Thin Before HT?

[Bowman]

Hi Everyone

I'm getting very close to heat treating my first knife. I have posted very recently in regards to pre-HT prep. At this point, I am almost finished hand sanding to 220 grit. My concern is that the edge is now very close to a finished width (about 2/3 thickness of a dime) but I have not HT yet.

Is this too thin to HT successfully? Will I lose significantly more edge width by the time I clean the blade up after HT? Is there anything I can do to salvage the blade if it is too thin?

Even if it is too thin, I will still HT for my own practice and break it to see the results of HT. I thought for a very brief time that I was going to stop sanding and leave the scratches so that I could still use the knife. However, I have learned that I have a bit of compulsive behavior when it comes to scratches in the blade; they drive me crazy!! At the same time, I have Doug Lester's words echoing in the back of my head, "There's no good enough where this is concerned [sanding]. The jobs complete or it's not." Sorry Doug but I have cursed your words too.

Thank you all again.

[WBE]

Depends on the steel and how you are HTing. I do 01 in an Evenheat oven and take the edge to the finished thickness. maybe about .010. The blade is protected against scale and decarb with ATP. Never a problem. Hting in a forge and different steels you need some extra at the edge.

[Ray Rogers]

Anything we can tell you would just be an estimate anyway. Since you can't put the steel back I suggest you continue with the HT just as you planned. If the edge warps you'll know that for whatever steel you're using with whatever HT method you're using the edge was too thin. Otherwise, you'll know that you can go that thin with your edges under your conditions ....

[Bowman]

Well I know I'm already committed to the blade, so of course I'll continue on. I'll be HT in a gas forge and the steel is 1084.

Keeping my fingers crossed...

Thanks for the info.

[BCROB]

Originally Posted by Bowman

Well I know I'm already committed to the blade, so of course I'll continue on. I'll be HT in a gas forge and the steel is 1084.

Keeping my fingers crossed...

Thanks for the info.

Knife looks great Bowman.......keep us posted after ht, I'd rather leave the edge a tad heavier myself and as Ray said you cant add steel but after ht you can certainly remove if needed..........handle material picked out yet ???

Rob in Kelowna

[Bowman]

Originally Posted by ruger4

Knife looks great Bowman.......keep us posted after ht, I'd rather leave the edge a tad heavier myself and as Ray said you cant add steel but after ht you can certainly remove if needed..........handle material picked out yet ???

Rob in Kelowna

Thanks for the advice ruger4. I will post again after I finish the knife and make a sheath if all goes well. As for handle material, I have a piece of Tigerwood that I like. I know it's not real common, but it's dense, has a little figure, and some nice color. I'm a big fan of spalted woods and some burls, but not until I get the process of finishing down.

One day I'll be making a knife for my brother so I've started saving my old underwear to make a "micarta" handle. I'll call it 'My-Pants Micarta'. It'll be great!! Though this may sound juvenile, I'm actually 38. Brotherly love never ends...