How finished do you take your stainless knives before HT?

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VDub13

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Jan 19, 2018
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I read and hear different opinions on this but I feel like most of the discussion out there is over carbon steels and not stainless.

Some say complete finish out, some say bevel to .01 or .02 (prevent warp and roll)... I have only used 440C and send it out for HT and cryo-temper. I have only done two but they were pretty darn finished when I sent out and they came back ok, AM I PLAYING WITH FIRE? What is your experience?
 
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I take them to 400 grit on the bevels with the flats at 1000 grit. After heat treat go back to 50, then 220, then 400 and satin finish from there. Cutting edge is ground down to less than half after heat treat.
 
I send to Peters' and the level of finish depends on the steel and the desired finish for the completed knife. On high carbide steels like S110v S90V, etc, I take the finish beyond 600 grit and will back it down accordingly. I also take the edge to final thickness (between .015 and .020), never had any warpage issues.

With AEBL, which seems to be more prone to wrinkle at the edge (granted, in dozens of knives by Brad, I have never had an issue) I rough grind to 120 grit only, finish grind post HT and hand sand to the desired level.
 
I send my CPM 154 to Paul Bos heat treating. I grind the edges pretty thin. .0180. Before sending out I hand sand to 400 grit. When they come back I hand sand with 400 grit and go up to 1200.
The blades have always come back from heat treatment in perfect condition.
 
I heat treat myself, but I do 100% of my bevel work after heat treat. They get profiled, holes drilled, and then heat treated before even knocking the corners off.
I used to do a lot of pre heat treat grinding, but I just prefer grinding hardened steel. If anything I get more life out of ceramic belts this way as I don't grind with enough pressure to refracture them otherwise. I mostly use 440c, ATS34, and cpm154.
 
argel55 said:
I take them to 400 grit on the bevels with the flats at 1000 grit. After heat treat go back to 50, then 220, then 400 and satin finish from there. Cutting edge is ground down to less than half after heat treat.
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Argel55, what do you mean by take the edge down to less than half? Also, any tips for this newbie on how to not sand down edges and the tip when hand sanding on the bevel?
 
Geoff Flato said:
I heat treat myself, but I do 100% of my bevel work after heat treat. They get profiled, holes drilled, and then heat treated before even knocking the corners off.
I used to do a lot of pre heat treat grinding, but I just prefer grinding hardened steel. If anything I get more life out of ceramic belts this way as I don't grind with enough pressure to refracture them otherwise. I mostly use 440c, ATS34, and cpm154.
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I have most of my patterns water jet cut, all holes etc done. Then to PAUL Bos HT, Then I taper the tang, Grind the bevels to 120 Grit, use a combo of Cork and Scorchbrite belts to satin finish. I use AEB-L , 440C and a few of its grandchildren in the CPM family. I prefer to just do all grinding post HT. ———//////- So when I’m done, I’m done!:D
 
My buddy takes them to a full polish before HT. That way he is sure there aren't hidden deep scratches that will sem damn near impossible to get out after HT. On S35VN and some other steels, making sure all deep scratches are gone is really important.
 
I leave the edges about 20 thousand before heat treat then re grind down to 10 then by the time I am to 400 grit it should be 8 or less.
As some has said on AEBL I just cuts 45 degree angle both sides to centering mark then grind hard.
 
I heat treat myself, but all the knives before the HT are grinded to 60% with 40 grit ceramic belt. After HT I start again with 40 grit ceramic belt.
 
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