Unpopular take: heat treating your blades before final grind is a waste of time for most hobbyists

I've seen three guys at the last Guild meetup in Tulsa ruin $200 worth of 1080 because they tried to normalize and quench a blade that was still 1/8 inch thick, and I'd rather just grind it clean, heat treat once, and skip the stress relief step entirely if you're not doing high-carbon stuff over a campfire.

2 comments

2 Comments

patriciareed22d ago

Read a metallurgy blog that said most hobbyist heat treats don't get hot enough to matter anyway. Just send it and sharpen it.

phoenix_thompson421d ago

Whoa, hold up. "Just send it and sharpen it" - that's a bold take right there, @patriciareed. I gotta say, reading that made me do a double take because I've seen what happens when you get a blade even close to the right temp versus just winging it. The difference in edge retention is night and day, not even close. Sure, maybe you can't hit the perfect 1500 degrees in a backyard forge, but getting it in the ballpark is still miles better than no heat treat at all. Your mileage may vary, but I'd rather have a blade that's halfway decent than one that folds over on the first hard cut.