kbaknife

Bruce, did you know that just following forging, and BEFORE the three thermal cycles/normalizing heats, Ed Fowler does three austenizing quenches? I did his Seminar a few years ago. Right after forging, do three reducing heat full non-mag quenches in room temp oil with 5160/52100. Then follow this with 3 just non-mag normalizing cycles. This virtually eliminates all subsequent warping that may occur, as well as gives REALLY nice and even fine grain, proven by his photomicrographs. Pretty much what Verhoeven is saying above.

One just like this one here, helped me to get my J.S. rating at this year's Blade Show. That one, however, had stainless fittings, and this one has "Black Glass" hot blued steel fittings. In fact, the butt cap is so much like a black mirror, I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to photograph it. The 6 1/4" false edged blade was forged down from heavy 5160 stock, selectively hardened, and given an 800 grit satin hand rubbed finish. On this one, I highly polished and buffed the beautiful African Blackwood handle. 11 1/2 inches over all! Available at this year's Ohio Classic!

No, not at all. I do file all of my handles to shape, so they never experience any undue heat. I've found that heat is the worst enemy of handle material as regards movement. I cut my blocks up a little oversized, wax the ends, and keep them in the rafters of my garage quite a few months before using, as well.

.....or, Macassar Defender. This is my regular "Defender" model for personal carry, but just a little longer than the normal 5 1/2 inch blade at 6 1/4". This thing had me in the shop early this morning! I truly loved watching it take shape, and just KNEW that the Macassar Ebony had some secrets to reveal! By the time I got it down to 1500 and then buffed out, it was like a piece of glass. I am so glad I have a bunch more of it. This thing is truly a pleasure to hold and fondle. Blade was forged down from heavy 5160 stock and given a selective hardening heat treatment. Stainless steel Take-down hardware. Macassar Ebony handle to impress. Thanks for letting me share! This will be available at the Ohio Classic Knife Show Oct. 31st.

Mark pretty much had the right idea. What the problem is, is when you over-heat the blade AFTER it has been forged, ground, hardened and tempered. Consider that the tempering will relieve the forging stresses and SLIGHTLY soften the hardness as low as 350 degrees. Get too high, say 450-500 or so, and you can completely remove any hardness that you have acieved at this point and the blade will be uselss AS A KNIFE! It will lose its hardness. Not necessarily carbon. If you are grinding a hardened blade and see RED heat, or sparks, it's toast. That is burnt carbon and probably about 1000 degrees in the surrounding steel. You've ruined it. You have destroyed the temper. However, if you get some color, blue or slightly above, during the grinding process, PRIOR to heat treat, you have done no lasting harm or caused any carbon loss. The solution that a lot of makers practice, is to grind free-hand and without gloves. (Never work with gloves around any type of rotating or oscilating equipment anyway. Good way to lose a finger). The rule is, that if it's too hot to hold by your bare hand, it's TOO HOT! Dip it in your bucket of water. Does all that make sense? After hardened and tempered, always just make a few passes on your grinder, and then cool the knife. A lot of work has gone into that knife by this time. Don't ruin it.

Get yourself a 2-3" piece of angle iron about 10 inches long. Weld plates on the ends that act as supports as well as "caps". Fill the void with water and place the edge of the knife in the water to keep it cool while you heat the spine. Make sense? If you do need to soften a tang after heat treating, suspend it in a tube of water while you heat the tang. When heating the tang, in a semi-dark room, heat until you go through all of the colors and it JUST starts turning the slightest bit red, and stop! Let it cool all the way back down. Do this three times. After that you can drill it with a dull drill bit! I watch so many guys keep posting questions about what kind of drill bits to buy and use to drill their tangs, and all they have to do is soften them. It's not so much a matter of NOT quenching them, because even oil/water hardening steels will harden partially in air just by bringing them up to critcal. Always, always, always soften those tangs prior to drilling. I welded a plate to the bottom of a scrap piece of tail pipe I got at my local muffler shop. Welded on a little rod along the side that sticks about a foot above the top of the pipe. I hang my blades blade-down in the tube filled with water and soften the tangs. As mentioned before, one way of getting what you seeks is to limit the depth of your quench in a horizontal tank and quench only the edge.

I just like sayin' "Gidgee Bowie"! I got a really choice piece of Gidgee from Down Under and mated it with a forged 5160 Bowie Blade about 10 1/4" inches long. Differential heat treatment on this blade. The multi-faceted and hot-blued fittings are mild steel. Handle, of course, faceted to mate the hardware pieces. Take-down assembly completes this package. 15 1/2" overall. (Look for this in Atlanta!)

I'm not going to tell anybody it takes longer to do it that way!

Every now and then I find that I need to make a knife that does not take-down. The assembly is still 95% the same, I just make a slight alteration with the pommel nut on the interior. There is an internal sleeve on the non-take-downs, and alignment pins like all the others. By far the strongest assembly I can imagine. Full mechanical connection that incorporates the tang, guard and handle material into one solid unit, all pulled forward into the guard shoulders. (Personally, and don't hold this against me, but I just don't like compromising handle material laterally with pins and bolts. I also find them visually detracting from the handle material.) I forged this down from heavy 5160 bar, gave it a differential heat treatment. I really liked this Ironwood material for its drastic contrast! Lots of light brown and almost black. Stainless steel contoured guard. 5 1/8" blade with a 4 7/8" handle. Overall length of 10 inches. I had hoped to finish this last night for my last knife of 2007, but it ended up being the first of 2008! Thanks for letting me participate.

I forgot the wrench in the photo! It was laying off to the side. The prop for the wrench is one of my Father's original Herters fox calls that he was using in the early 50s to hunt fox in Northern Minnesota.

I just felt compelled to dig into my Stag stash this week. It really is a nice and solid piece of Sambar, with great figure. I forged the 5160 blade down from 1" thick stock and gave it a differential heat treatment. It is well etched and has an un-sharpened clip. Take-down fittings are hot-blued mild steel. Overall length of 10 1/8 inches with a 5 3/8 blade. It just screams "CUT!" Doesn't it? Thanks for enjoying it with me. Individually Handcrafted Knives for the Outdoor Enthusiast

No - different deal. That's W1 shallow hardening steel that had the spine covered by clay and quenched in fast oil. After tempering, the blade was sanded to 400 grit. Then etched for only 3 minutes. Then lightly sanded to 600. In this process we're not trying to eat away material, but only trying to EXPOSE differential procedure.

Sweet little knife, Bruce!! (Make a nice patch knife!) I always see how people use etchant in different ways. Bruce is sure right on one point - the finer the finish the better the etch. Whether I am ethcing 5160 to show edge quench, wrought iron to show grain, or Damascus to show pattern weld, I always take my blade up to full polish - hand sanded all the way through 1500 grit with NO sanding marks and then buffed. The better the finish - the better the etch. Folks also confuse mixing water in with DILUTING - as in weaker. That's not the case. The FeCl needs the oxygen and the hydrogen in the water to work! If you just use straight FeCl almost no etching will occur! The water is an important part of the recipe. I usually etch my Damascus for 30 - 45 minutes, removing each 10 minutes to clean off the surface with a fresh cotton ball. As the oxides build up on the surface of the steel, it creates a BARRIER between the steel and the FeCl. No etching takes place.

I bought this at a knife show, and will only buy professionally stabilized material. There is no way a person get complete penetration with home-type procedures, equipment and chemicals. I purchased it as a block and then shaped with files.

Here's a 12 inch Bowie style cutter with Spalted Maple handle material. The W1 blade is fully hardened, and the entire package is of the Take-down variety! The mild steel fittings are fluted and jeweled with selective polishing on the facets and flutes. Flats on all pieces are satin. The blade is 7 inches to the face of the guard. In the second photo, I did a little "thing"! As I shaped the handle with my files, the details from one side to the next became increasingly identical! The spalting runs exactly horizontally through the handle. I took a picture of each side individually, and then with my photo program "flipped" one side so they are both going the same direction to show how similar one side is to the next. I thought that was worth a picture of its own! This piece of handle material is the most solid and flawless piece of material I have ever used. I hope you enjoy it as well.

The integral motor on that Grizz is very resticting. It's one speed, you're always bumping into the motor when grinding "left", it doesn't track well, that flat platen is for --it, etc. However, it was my first grinder!! Almost 10 years ago when they first started offering it. I actually still use it when I just want to de-bur something, and don't want to use a REAL grinder like the others listed here. I've considered converting it to a buffer since it's only a 3750 motor. You will use contact wheels of al sizes even if you aren't hollow grinding. Sometimes you will just need to small contact area which is easy to achieve with a wheel. You may want a rubber surface behind your belt for some purpose that you can't get with the platen. I use my 8" wheel to put concave areas on my handles for palm swells, etc. Just get a good one and you can always add to the accesssory list as needed. You can't do that with the grizz. Oh, and get the variable speed. Spend the extra bucks. You will be able to make better knives - sooner, and pay for the grinder!

Thanks, so much, for your contributions to these threads, Ed.

This knife and me went 'round and 'round the shop for two days, but I think I've almost won! First, the Integral blade forged from W1 round stock and heat treated with Satanite backing. I have a little difficulty with capturing the hamon photographically, but I think it's fairly evident. The Stabilized Spalted Oak had me on the run as well! It was a little open grained, but rather than eliminate it all, I stopped short so as to leave a little grain that really gives it a nice rustic appearance. The knife is assembled in a Take-down configuration with hot blued fittings. Over-all length of 10 1/2", with a 6 inch blade, not including the bolster area. Hope you enjoy !

We's rockin' now!

Now it's no longer a "sticky"!

ABS Performance Test JOURNEYMAN SMITH APPLICANT Journeyman and Master Smith Judging Guidelines ABS Performance Test MASTER SMITH APPLICANT The posted material has been removed as it is copyrighted. ABS denied permission to post copyrighted material ABS Performance Test, Journeyman and Master Smith Judging Guidelines, and Master Smith Applicant, the but suggested a link instead. (11-27-07) per Greg Neely, Chairman, American Bladesmith Society, Inc. A link has been established with their permission.

followed by: New Page 0 The posted material has been removed as it is copyrighted. I have requested permission to post the material from the ABS.

JS Test The posted material has been removed as it is copyrighted. I have requested permission to post the material from the ABS.

The type of steel is not near as important as how you heat treat it. "Hard" is a relative term that involves far too many factors to list here. 5160, when heat treated properly, will no doubt make a great spring, but can be hardened so hard it'll shatter like glass! Then it becomes a matter of tempering. There are many steels that will provide you with all the performance you will ever need in a hunting knife. Pick one and learn how to properly heat treat it. Here's a nice place to start: (Here's a quote from the following reference): ...." But perhaps most important is the heat treatment. A good solid heat treatment on a lesser steel will often result in a blade that outperforms a better steel with inferior heat treatment." The Knife Steel FAQ by Joe Talmadge Knives at Knife Art Custom Knives

Nice job on that handle, Dude! Really shows a lot of care and attention to materials used. Fantastic combination.