plasma cutting the knife blank

scott.livesey

Dealer - Purveyor
hi,
hope this is the right spot. I am going to have some blade blanks plasma cut from a piece of Aldo's 1084. any extra steps or special precautions when heat treating the finished blade? the material is 1/8" and the blades 3 to 4 inches long and 3/4" wide.
thanks
scott
 
Just leave a little bit to grind off later, they say it will de-carb on the edge.
Then follow a normal heat treat cycle, be sure to normalize.

Dwane
 
Depending on price and availability I recommend water jet cutting. It saves you from the waste and step of having to grind off that 1/16th or so off the sides like Dwane mentioned..

I had Laser cutting done for years, It just depends on price and Waterjet will save you one step and time is money if you do this full time.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
Another thing to consider when having steel plasma cut is that even some of the slightly more complex oil quenching tool steels can be at least partially air quenching. You would probably be safe with with 1084 but I really would recommend against using plasma cutting on a air quenching steel or it will have a rim of untempered martensetic steel around the edge. Laurence gives good advice on the water jet cutting. If you can't find a local service that will do the job for you Great Lakes Waterjet (sp) advertises below under services.

Doug
 
scott, i never cut blanks with plasma altho i thought about it, but i saw things that were cut with plasma, just keep in mind that its not remotely close in accurecy to water jet or such so keep in mind not to put many cut lines close to each other (maybe do the drilling yourself on the tang?) also as Dwane said, leave bit of room for 'molten' steel around the profile, like scalling your actual profile by 3-5mm extra just in case

enjoy and please share :)
 
Shokr Mentions another point I forgot as far as Laser/Plasma Vs Water Jet are concerned.

I also have my bolt holes and weight reduction hole cut outs done with the water jet.
Saving several more steps.

I use Dave mostly at Great Lakes Waterjet in our forums.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
I am in the process of finding a way to get blanks cut from large circle blades used in the tree trimming industry. The steel is believed to be L-6, we think. CNC Plasma cutting is difficlut. I am looking for contact info for the guy in Nacogdoches Texas who does water jet cutting. I have noted the edges harden some but that is what I am knocking off with an old 36 blaze belt. Once a quick clean up is done I move on to set up. Heat treat (work in progress) seems to do okay with three thermal cycles and an oil quench. Draw for 1 hour at 400F. So far I am getting a HRC of 57 which seems good to me.

Lessons learned so far: Over size so you can dress up edges. Have all your holes blown because you aint gona get a drill bit thru the stuff when you need to. Use Loveless bolts to put the scales on.

I have 8 years exp learned from the school of try it and then ask questions. This process works for me and I am okay with it. I am more that willing to learn more!!! Gary - Antley TX Knife and Forge
 
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