Hello all,
This is my first real post, and it starts with a problem.
Today I snapped a knife blade in half.
A friend asked for a filet knife so I forged one as thin as I could get it. I am using a propane/firebrick forge. The steel was car leaf spring steel.
I forged the blade. Normalized it twice. Heated it to bright orange, quenched it in motor oil once. Out of the motor oil the blade warped a small amount. I then polished the blade up some, and put it in a toaster oven at 400F for an hour. Once it was finished, I put it back into the oven for 425F for another hour.
I began polishing again and sharpening the blade but still tried to figure out what to do with the warped blade.
I took a small micro butane torch and heated the blade near the warp to a dark brown/ blue thinking it would add flexibility.
I squeezed the blade in a vise but the warp remained. So, I grabbed the blade with two hands and attempted to bend it a little bit and the whole blade snapped in two.
I will attempt to upload a photo, but this is my first attempt at photo uploading.
I have crafted 10 or 11 blades before this but none this thin.
Any help on troubleshooting my work procedures would be greatly appreciated.