ditchman

Right.............since my absence from this forum ...i have been busy...i have found an old pre-war flatbed Linisher machine made by Qualters & Smith of Barnsley..(trust me you dont want to go there)...and i am re-building and modifying it....putting new roller bearings in it and have designed a raised steel (milled) plate to be screwed to the flat bed to allow a precise plunge cut/line.......... what i have also been doing is "wading" thro' the multitude of different ways to harden and temper 01 tool steel..........and they all seem to contridict each other..regards number of times to do the process and the time taken between each process look im a poor simple English fellow and i need something simple to follow... i do not have pyrometers or gas forge...i use my eye for colour and magnet for hardening...the stock is already in an annealed state.... These are my thoughts harden first...(magnet...then into warmed / heated cooking oil point first and straight up and down... clean into forge onto plate and watch the colours to "light straw at 229deg's C quickly remove and into shallow bath of warmed oil cooling bottom third of blade...cutting edge and some ..leaving upper and full tang to cool naturally .... Question... am i on the right track.... what will happen to the air cooled part of the blade and tang will there be a problem where the 2 heats zones meet (the interface)..... im looking to get a hard but not stupid hard culling edge with a softer spine and tang............. what do you rekon Steve................would be interested in your procedure............

good reply....that is the sort of answer i was looking for................JHCC is right in his observation of me using the word heat treat....as it can be an all encompassing term...what i should have said is "to temper thrice"............................but TP has expanded brilliantly on this issue ..................... thanks TP ditch

thanks for that ...i will try and locate it.........................on the bye i have gleaned from various suppliers of 01 that when making cutting edge tools it is preferable to heat treat them 3 times....what is the rational behind that ?

....ok i will use that as a starting point...........i cottoned on to it as it was a simpler version of what i had read so far....im also talking to an old dyed in the wool blacksmith on my shooting forum about the same question.......... thanks for your reply..

Have taken on board what the "admin" bods have advised....spending my time reading, as i wait for bits of equipment that are sourced 2nd hand........... a while ago i came across this website.."threeplanes.net".........to do with woodworking tools...but has a few pages on heat treating 01 tool steel QUESTION has any body read it and what is your opinion of it...should i stay clear of it or use it as a good reference point ? cheers ditch

thank you for the replies..............i shall be "ploughing" my way thro some of the topics and posts in the next couple of weeks...so as not to annoy the members having to repeat themselves.. cheers ditch'

explain "stock removal blades" please ok ...just googled it............grinding

I want to be able to make some good honest serviceable blades.............i have been visiting various sites and i am in awe of the skills and the stunning blades that are produced... my whole life has evolved around shooting..but due to personell reasons that is slowly taking a back seat...as it requires for me to be away from the house for several hours at a time... i havnt OCD but i need to keep busy with my hands...i make and mend all sorts of stuff for friends on my shooting forum that they send me... it will take several years to even partly amass skills......i would like to head for a pattern welded finish but with a good carbon plain steel inner...nothing fancy...it wont be used for fighting grizzlies and such like....making up handles is something i have done regular like so no worries there.....i dont want my knives to look like they have been stamped out at a foundary.. all in all i want to keep it simple...and get good at doing something that is simple and sound and functional....thats what i want to head for...................... ditch

...yeah................but the old norfolk weather......has wot is called "a lazy wind"....................its too xxxx lazy to go around you...it go straight thru you.............. in the old dialect...us old boi's refer to bad weather comin in as,.............................."blast thats a dark owa wills muther's boi" keep you orn a troshin.. ditch

Well before i start making a fool of myself....thought it would be prudent to to introduce myself............(if you want more info' go to my profile) The name is Ditchman...which i have used for many years on shooting forums...i joined this forum as i need your brains to push me along my way to making a decent set of hunting knives...........i am used to "pushing metal about".......i have made a hunting knife before ...just the one.....in 1982....it was out of a Toyota leaf spring...and as i was in southern sudan at the time and ivory was still leagal...it had an ivory and brass handle........the end product was a good servicable blade...that had a handforged look to it ..as i flatterened it with a planishing hammer before hollow grinding it....i gave it to a friend who was "made up " with it....and to my knowledge he still wears it every day... I have promised to make a set of hunting knives for a friend...but i need to up my skill set...hence joined this forum...where i can pick you's folks brains.. the weather here is xxxxxx awful...it is cold ...wet...miserable...im not spending a lot of time in the shed at the moment...but inside sitting in front of the fire..... as ever............ Ditchman