Would those temps. compromise the high carbon steel?
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I think I’d leave some tolerance so i could grind off the HAZ, but if you’re heat treating it after, it probably doesn’t matter.
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A requirement of all my knives is that they can throw sparks when struck with a piece of flint or quartz across the knives’ back spine (flint and steel fire source). Thus my comment/concern about de-carbonization.
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Could always go with a simpler rat tail tang.
I have not cut a knife on the plasma yet.
From what I’ve read, hardening of the edge in the heat affected zone (HAZ) can be an issue, especially with air-hardening steels like O2. Some decarburization also occurs. The affected area is narrow.
If you cut 1/16”-1/8” oversized and grind back (with cooling) you can remove this affected area. This will also remove the plasma slag/carbides produced by the plasma process. Annealing first makes this easier as it’ll resoften the HAZ.
If you’re really concerned about it, sending it out to be cut by waterjet or slowly grinding and filing it out of the parent stock is an option.
For me, I’d use the plasma, cut 1/8” oversized, re-anneal it in the forge, and grind to final shape on the KMG.
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Smart! Hadn’t considered that approach.
Generally, you’d want to cut oversized anyway because of plasma slag.
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