Edge thickness of stainless vs. carbon steels before heat treating.

[Self Made Knives]

About ready to heat treat my first stainless blade, 14c28n, and I've got the stainless foil wrap and two 1" thick quench plates. My question today is: Any difference with edge thickness of stainless vs. carbon steels before heat treating?

I had come to believe that on carbon steels, you risked burning out the carbon in a thin cross section, so I've been keeping them at a "dime's" thickness and then finish grinding them afterwards. Since the stainless will be protected from atmosphere, does the same hold true? Or can you go closer to finish grind?

I was watching BossDog's heat treating video he put up about a month ago, and if I heard him correctly, he's finishing the blade before heat treat. At least that's the impression the video is giving me.

I'm sure this has been asked before, but the search function on the forum is kind of quirky, couldn't find a good answer.

Anthony

 

[Warren Krywko]

Take stainless down to pretty much finished dimensions. There is minimal decarb because of the foil protection. I don't say no decarb, because there is a tiny amount of oxygen from the pinholes that prevent the foil from ballooning. I use two foil packets, each with one pinhole in opposite corners to prevent balooning.

 

[Knifemaker.ca]

Once you get it right, there is little or no finish grinding to do after HT on stainless. Some makers finish the blade on the buffer alone. I would suggest not sharpening the blade before HT - for safety reasons if nothing else. It has also been my experience that oil quench blades will require some post HT grinding.

Rob!

 

[KenH]

I pretty much finish 14C28N SS blade to about 400 Grit with a .010" edge before HT'ing. That seems to work pretty good.

Ken H>

 

[Self Made Knives]

I had stopped my grind with my usual "dime's" thickness, but I think I'll go back and get it further along before HT. Stainless is new to me and I'm really liking the knife I'm working on, paranoid I'm going to screw it up! Actually, come to think of it, this is all new to me!