David Kahn

I have a couple of blocks of tool steel in my shop that I thought was S2. I was sending some other material out to be tested, and chopped off a piece of my "S2" to have it checked as well. Results came back as follows: Carbon: 0.60 % Manganese: 0.80 Phosphorus: 0.017 Sulfur: <0.005 Silicon: 2.09 Nickel: 0.12 Chromium: 0.23 Molybdenum: 0.34 Copper: 0.10 Aluminum: 0.01 Vanadium: 0.18 So, 50 percent more carbon, pretty much double all of the other normal S2 alloys (except for Moly), plus some vanadium. Is this really S2? If not, anyone have any idea what it actually is or how to heat treat it?

I think there's more to normalizing than some of the other posters have indicated. Normalizing is generally accomplished by heating steel to slightly above critical temperature and then allowing it to cool to below critical, but I think the effects of this process go beyond simple stress relief. It's my understanding that repeated normalizing cycles have the effect of refining the grain size of the steel, producing small grain size and greater toughness. I'm told this occurs because new pearlite grains form on the boundaries of the old Austinite grains as the steel cools. I think you can get the same result with repeated quenching/hardening cycles, but there is obviously a greater risk of damage to the steel with that approach. Many knife makers will do three or four normalization cycles after forging but prior to hardening in order to improve blade performance and resistance to breakage. (Cracks and breaks tend to propagate along grain boundaries, so, as a general rule, the smaller the grain size, the tougher the metal.) If you want to understand this stuff better, the book "Steel Metallurgy for the Non-Metallurgist" by J. D. Verhoeven is absolutely superb. (Here it is on Amazon, but you can probably find it used for less: http://www.amazon.com/Steel-Metallurgy-Non-Metallurgist-J-Verhoeven/dp/0871708582/ )

Awesome!

Animal head class last fall. If it was you MM, Thanks! The bearings work great and really improve the vices. The only thing I added was some electrical tape around the outside of the bearing races to keep the metal dust from hack sawing and filing out of the bearings.

At the suggestion of a couple of smiths I met during a class at Daryl Nelson's shop last year, I added thrust bearings to the two post vices in my shop, and I must say, the bearings really are a nice addition. They make vice operation noticeably smoother, and it's much easier to torque them down hard when you need to. (The bearing goes between the vice handle and the outer outside jaw surface.) There are probably cheaper sources, but McMaster Carr has a good selection of sizes: http://www.mcmaster.com/#thrust-bearings/=7zppdq .

I start with a really coarse grit, like 24 or 36 grit to knock off the scale, get the basic shape in and set the bevels. I then usually move to an 80 grit to finalize the bevels and get closer to final shape. I finish grinding with a 180, and a flexible 220. After that, I usually go to hand finishing. (I've tried going finer on the belt grinder, but I've kind of come to the conclusion that for polishing, it doesn't really save much, if any, time, and I find the hand work more relaxing.) The Blaze belts, btw, are really good. For hand finishing, the 3M open cut psa rolls are wonderful.

Don't worry Grant -- I'm crying on the inside! (And thanks for the kind words, btw.)

That's exactly why I hardend the butt cap! Otherwise it doesn't take the finish very well. (In fact, you can see that the finish is a little less distinct on the bolster; that's because I tempered it back from full hardness.) I don't follow your question on flat ground blades. The mustard etch isn't very deep, but this knife is flat ground (as are all of the other blades on which I've used this finish: http://www.rhinometalworks.com/knives.html ). It woudn't work well on a Japanese style blade, I suppose, where one sharpens the knife by grinding the entire bevel, but on any knife where there's a secondary bevel at the edge, it's fine. Of course, it's just a patina, and will change over time in any event.

I love, love, love the Blaze belts. These are, by far, the best belts I've ever used. I got some of the 24 grit ones for rough work, and they are XXXX amazing. They take off metal like nobody's business and last forever. (Of course, they look like somebody glued orange popcorn to a grinder belt, and God help you if you inadvertantly push your finger into the edge while the grinder is on.)

Sorry I took a while to respond, but as I said, I learned this from Michael Rader up in Washington, and I felt like I should check with him before divulging his secrets. Michael says he learned it from Wayne Goddard and gave me permission to explain how it's done. (Michael is a great knife maker and a super nice guy, btw.) It's a patina, done with mustard. I use French’s, actually. You finish the blade (maybe to 600 grit). You then apply the mustard in little dots with a toothpick, and let it dry. Drying takes three or five hours, and it turns black. I tried using a heat lamp to accelerate this, but I think it actually works better when the mustard is allowed to dry slowly. Once it's dry, you wash it off and repeat until you get the finish you want. For some reason, the patina is much more distinct on hardened steel, so this finish doesn't work so well on blades that have been differentially hardened (e.g., clay coated, edge quenched, or even if the spine has been tempered back too hard). Sometimes, the patina opalesces, creating a cool sort of a rainbow effect, but I haven't figured out how to make that happen deliberately; it just happens sometimes, or not. You can see a great example of this if you look at image 19 on Michael's site gallery here: http://www.raderblade.com/gallery.htm . (If someone else figures this out, please share.) Obviously, the size and spacing of the mustard dots you apply affects the pattern of the patina, and you can play around until you get an effect you like. One nice thing about it is that the etched surface holds a nice film of oil, so it doesn't rust or stain so easily. Plus, it's easy to touch up if it gets scratched, etc. Hope this is of some help guys, and again, sorry for the delay in sharing.

If this was something I had developed or discovered on my own, I would happily share, but a knife maker up in Washington (Michael Rader) shared this technique with me, and since he's the one who figured it out, I feel like it wouldn't be right to post it on a public board without checking with him first. (Which I will do.) Very sorry to withhold, but I don't think I should out his trade secrets without first confirming that he doesn't mind.

The blade is forged out of W-2, triple normalized and hardened in salt, and the handle is stabilized snakewood. Not sure what it's called, but I did the handle in a shape I've seen on Japanese knives -- it's more or less oval, with a straight facet that runs the length of the handle under the base of the fingers. (Does anyone know if there is there a name for this style of handle?) The blade and butt-cap (also hardened W-2) have a Michael Rader inspired mustard finish. (Also took some pics as I was making this, which can be seen here: http://www.rhinometalworks.com/wip.html ). Hope you guys like it.

I've used aqua fortis to stain maple. Aqua fortis is nitric acid that's been saturated with iron filings (or steel wool, I guess). It turns a bright, xxxx yellow color; after you apply it to the maple, you have to heat (slowly!) the wood over a forge or with a torch until you get to the darkness you want. After that ,you neutralize (I use baking soda and water), and then finish (I use beeswax and linseed oil). Here's some pictures of the resulting finish: http://www.rhinometa...s.com/hawk.html . Hard to see in the photo, but it produces a really nice chatoyance. If making aqua fortis is too much trouble, you can buy it from Track of the Wolf (a muzzle loader site): http://www.trackofth...=66&styleID=225 . Hope this helps.

Thanks guys! High praise indeed. I took an animal head class with Daryl Nelson last fall, and while I was there, he showed me an unbelievably cool mountain man folder by Gene Chapman. This knife was an attempt on my part to get that **** Gene Chapman knife out of my head. (Unsucessful, I might add.) Something about the old timey/blacksmithy style of guys like Gene Chapman and Daniel Winkler really speaks to me, so I'm unabashedly trying to copy their work! (I'm not familiar with Wade Colter, but I guess now I'll have to look him up.)

Just finished a spring back mountain man folder. Blade and spring are forged from Japanese high-vanadium steel, sanbar stag handle, sterling silver washers, and copper liners and pins. Blade has a Michael Rader inspired mustard finish, and the spring back is salt-blued. Thanks for looking guys.