Rhettbarnhart

Kb and Rich Hale i heated to critcal and straightened when i was done straightening the color was almost gone i slipped it back in the forge and re-heat treated it.....so i am guessing yall are probably right.Oh well live and learn as they say and at least its not ruined:)in case i didnt make it clear......no i did not re-normalize

"good rescue" thanks but i still dont like it quite as much as before "do you know why it cracked?" Rich i will give the process i used.......steel was 5160 from aldo i dont think i ever hammered below temp.i normalized 4-5 times then heat treated twice by going to nonmagnetic and quenchin in veggie oil.After the second ht i noticed the blade was warped so i heated back up and straightened on the anvil then heat treated one more time......CRACK!!!!my opinion is that the reason it cracked is because i straightened the blade after hardening but i could be completely wrong.Any thoughts?anybody?btw i ordered cocobolo wood and will hopefully be finishin it soon Rhett

here are some piics with a temporary handle

thanks kyler but i am afraid it is drstically changed now!!!

ARGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!it cracked during ht :angry: the crack was on the clip side and i was able to grind it out but i had to grind it out so much it looks like something u would c in a sci fi flick!!!

look on ebay just those tools are probably worth a cpl hundred.....

i finally decided to make a hidden tang knife and decided to post progress here.Any of the blade gurus can tell me if i screw up and tell me wat to do differently ,and if anyone has advice i will consider all of it.enjoy.....First i got a piece of 5160 from aldo and then i drew out the blade then made a template from wood.after that i forged to shape then hit with an angle grinder and a 1x30 from harbor freight.here are the results so fari will post pictures of progress as soon as i have more time to work on it.

u would have to have a pretty big forge to ht a blade that big.I started makin a sword when i stared bcus i had the "i want to make a cool medieval sword"attitude it never got finished and never will.I am still a beginner but my advice is to forge some small knives drop points,neck knives etcetera get the basics down bfore u waste a big piece of steel.with every inch u add onto a knife u also add a lot of work just my two cents take it or leave it. Rhett

thomas the only thing i could find on them is a post on ebay a cpl months ago and that is wat they called them it is a lot like a track clip but bigger i think

those r awesome especially for ur first ones!!!!

i made this knife from a railroad tie stay,oak salvaged from a crate,and copper from a groundwirefrom the sharp side from the top and one more from the side in my hand i wont be selling this so it doesnt matter that i made it out of unknown steel enjoy.criticism welcome

just throwing this out there i just bought a piece of 5160 from new jersey steel baron .25inx1.5inx4ft was 20 bucks tipped off the ups another 15 bucks and had it at my door within a week when u throw in the time u woud have put in looking for leaf springs and drawing them out to the right thickness 35 bucks for a piece of steel the right length is a good deal!!!!

i agree with 2tim15 my favorite style for skinning chopping and anything else u need is a drop point

one thing i forgot to mention it has a star beside the "made in sweden"does this tell yall anything?

ok thanks for the info

wouldnt the cutting edge break?

what about damascus japanese swords that were supposed to be extremely hard?

thanks

would you mind if i used this handle idea on some of my knives?

i will soak it in oil then thank you

it keeps wantin to rust and i dony know how to stop it!!!

thank you for the complements guys but as u can tell i still have a LONG way to go:} sorry i didnt put on more pics

i worked for about three weeks on this and it still has a lot of flaws but i like itany comments or criticism is welcome it still isnt quite finished

Steve correct me if I'm wrong;)

I am finishing a knife from one now and it hardened really well but idk maybe I just got lucky I just use them because I don't want to buy steel and have the chance of ruining it plus it is good practice drawing them out