after HT... how to clean up the blade

zzknives

zzknives

Well-Known Member
I love grinding

What I don´t like it sanding and cleaning the blades after HT

With all the oil burned into the blade I get annoyed easily :unsure:


I figured out that a scotchbrite pad works best to get rid of the burned in quench oil but it takes time same with sandpaper

also put a few blades in my tumbler and let the stones do the job but it takes hours...

tried vinegar

put the messy blades in a glass of 5% vinegar and let it sit there for a day..well the results weren´t that good either... but at least the burned in oil was gone

sandblasting would do the trick but I don´t have the equipment..

so what do you guys do with your messy blades after HT to make them look nice again?!

I could use the grinder but hardly any hardened blade touches my grinder
Don´t wanna mess with the temper

AL
 
Al, I'm not a pro like ed, and others that know what to do.
but after ht while the oil is still smoking i just wipe it with a rag and sometimes i take a wire brush to it before it dries

vern
 
HA actually that´s not a bad idea ...

If I´d clean the blade right away before it dries and before I put it in the oven for tempering my life would be much easier

THX

p.s just curious... is there some sort of cleaning liquid out there which would peel away the oil... that cleaning the blade with a scotchbrite pad wouldn´t be such hard work
 
Last edited:
I allow my blades to sit in the quench oil until they're cool enough to handle with bare hands (that's only about 5 mins or so), then I use the super coarse steel wool to scrub most of the "crud" off.

Your never going to be able get every bit of it off, but for me the steel wool does a very good job.

What DO NOT want to do is use a method that requires overnight before tempering. You want to make sure that you get a quenched blade into the tempering oven as soon after quenching as possilbe...otherwise the risk is very high that you will get micro cracking from the stresses. I've wrecked a number of blades over the years because I messed up in one way or another, and didn't put them in the tempering oven right away. (left them overnight and found cracks in the edges the following morning)
 
Spray em with WD40 and give em a quick scuff off with whatever grit you left the finish at pre heat treat. The carbon crap will come right off.
 
I scrub off the oil in hot soapy water and a wire brush before putting the blade into the tempering oven. It is baking the oil on the blade that makes it hard to get off. After tempering I soak the blade in white vinegar to take the fire scale off.

Doug Lester
 
THANKS guys!!!!! I´ll try WD 40 and steel wool

Hot soapy water sound good too.. will test it ALL 2thumbs
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top