How far do you go?

[Aredee]

Ok I'm working on my first knife. I am doing stock removal, figured that would be a good place to start. I have the $50 knife shop book and it says don't go to thin or the blade could warp or crack when Heat treated. My question is how far is to far? The blade is from an old file. 1/16th on the spine and currently ~1/32 on the cutting edge. Thanks for the input.

[ThomasPowers]

Usually we say the thickness of a dime, (and I bump that up a bit if I'm expecting "trouble"...)

The better you get the finer you can go (or you get to know what shapes and alloys alloy you to go finer without problems with your preferred method of heat treat!)

[Aredee]

Usually we say the thickness of a dime, (and I bump that up a bit if I'm expecting "trouble"...)

The better you get the finer you can go (or you get to know what shapes and alloys alloy you to go finer without problems with your preferred method of heat treat!)

Thanks, Do you hand rub sand before or after hardening?

[ThomasPowers]

You don't want any coarse scratches on the blade as they help propagate cracks during HT; but a mirror polish is not needed.

Depending on what I am going for I do not hand rub at all! (Meet my friend, Mr Bader) If I'm going old school I will draw file and then hand sand with a hard block to 220 or so before heat treat.

Heat treating in a pipe in the forge horizontally with one end closed off and some real charcoal in it can cut down on scaling and make for a more even heating (rotate the pipe as it heats to equalize temp and then hold the blade in the pipe not touching *or* only touching the back on the bottom of the pipe.)

[Aredee]

Thank you very much, I will post pictures when I am done with the knife.