Awwww....crap.

[rhull]

I found out how hot you can get a Stanley 60 1/2 blade on a bench grinder before the steel turns blue. x(

Guess who's spending tomorrow grinding back a couple millimeters off a blade. Awwww...crap. <chuckle>

DOH!

[Darrin O]

on CKD forums, which is a knife making forum a piece of advice given was that when grinding the steel for a blade, if you can touch it to your lips with out burning them, youre ok. I dont recommend this test to determine if youre going to anneal your steel, but it gives you an idea that not very hot can be too hot.

Darrin
"Ever notice how good enough, is usually neither good nor enough?"

[rhull]

>...but it gives you an idea that not very hot can be too hot.
>

I learned that the hard way. I figure, I guess I had to do it once to learn myself not to do it again. At least it wasn't too bad a "burn". I've already taken most of the [untempered, de-tempered, distempered] metal off - by hand using 100 grit paper. :P

[Sawduster]

Yep, plane blades can get hot real quick. My grinder has been relegated to fabricating stuff out of angle iron and such. Even on my small belt sander, I leave the blades in contact with the belt for just a few seconds at a time before dipping them into a bucket of water nearby. Then as soon as the water on the end of the blade has boiled off, I'm dipping it again.

[RustyBrooks]

In a book I was reading recently the author suggested holding your hand on the blade rather near the tip. If it gets hot to the touch, back off. This might have been for sharpening high speed steel though.