overmodulated

Thanks much for the great tips. I don't happen to have acetone or denatured alcohol, but would mineral spirits do? The glue holes is something I've done a lot, and it does help! But it lightens the handle end considerably (if a few holes are drilled) and I didn't want to do that for the balance on this particular knife. So it sounds like it's wrong for me to clamp down hard on the scales, with multiple clamps, because it squeezes out virtually all the epoxy. I hadn't considered this. Does that mean that some of you intentionally clamp the pieces together lightly instead? This could be the problem

no, but I thoroughly cleaned the surface with soap & water and dried it. I should mention I'm dealing with JB Weld. supposed to be one of the better epoxies, correct?

Folks: what do you all do to ensure a solid epoxy bond between wooden scales and the steel? You'd think a good scuffing of a perfectly clean surface with coarse paper (100 grit) would do. But not always. It's pretty frustrating when a scale falls off before peening the pins, as happened to me tonight. (I usually epoxy first, then insert the pins.) Any magic trick here? Thanks!

is it even possible to start out with prehardened, tempered steel? seems like it would be next to impossible to properly shape, and even then, it would get burned up during such an aggresive grind.

thanks much. I did try drilling from the other direction and hit the same "wall." Then I tried a dremel tool with diamond coated head, no luck. In disgust, and out of impatience, I ended up doing what I didn't want to do: ripping the xxxxxx thing apart. So this question is now overcome by events. But thanks for the pointers.

Folks: I just broke a standard Dewalt pilot point drill bit (1/8 " dia) while drilling through a 416 stainless knife bolster. The bolster is only 3/8" thick, but is already epoxied to the knife side (hole was pre-drilled into the knife, so it binded inside the bolster.) Have done my best to drill it out, using other bits (smaller and of same diameter) and even a cobalt bit, at low and high speeds, but am getting nowhere. Would anyone have a trick up their sleeves to remove it? Thanks much!!

Great tips from all so far - thank you. Perhaps the glass smooth reference was overstated. I wouldn't want a surface that would peel or crack. But I see some posts of people's work, some using the same wooden material I've chosen, and I'm impressed with the finish they've achieved. So far I've used walnut, birdseye maple and maple burls, bloodwood, brazilian cherry (leftover scraps from my hardwood floors) and am now trying to do the right thing with an amboyna burl I recently purchased off the internet. My only coating so far is tung oil (very thick stuff, which I cut with at least 2 parts mineral spirits). The sandpaper is the stuff sold at Home Depot (Norton), and it discolors all the lighter material because of that black backing. This makes me hesitant to work with the ultrafines, and I'm sure that's part of the problem.

Folks: am hoping you will share any tips you may have on achieving a "glass-smooth" handle finish. A couple related questions: Is it advisable to buff the handles before, or after, applying coat(s) of tung oil? I assume a clean buffing wheel is needed here with no rouge. Does anyone else have trouble with black-colored wet-dry sandpaper discoloring the lighter colored woods (like maple)? I usually end up smudging the wooden surface and can't keep it clean. Haven't been able to find very fine sandpaper (600 grit + higher) without the black background color. Any guidance? Thanks so much!

was just wondering. sorry, but it made you look! it just seems like it would make the ultimate conversation piece. has anyone fabricated a blade from something exotic they'd like to mention?

great! wish I had the patience to hand remove scratches down to 600 grit. symmetrically beautiful

fear not the peanut oil as a quenchant - it works great for the steels you're using

Rich Hale: you were right - it's scale! Found that out tonight. The stuff actually brushed off when reheated to sufficient temp. E Shroeder: great tip with the pipe. Although I had to use a square pipe to fit the blade, it provided a nice little "oven" within which the monster blade got evenly heated. Got a good quench on thuis. I think this 5160 blade has been salvaged. Thanks for the good tip.

interesting heating method: lay the knife inside a steel pipe and have the whole thing in the coal fire - do I understand that correctly? Seems like this could take a while, but iof it works I'll try it. This blade is way too long to use a torch, I believe, but if I were to use a torch wouldn't I concentrate the (moving) flame along the edge rather than the spine? Thanks aagin

Tonight I attepted to harden a 15" 5160 blade in a coal forge that wasn't quite big enough. I moved the blade slowly to distribute the heat. But I failed to achieve uniform heat across the blade. (some parts started to burn, while others still had a "shadow" in the orange. Quenched it in peanut oil, and the file test releaved uneven hardening. So I desire to try this again, if I can get away with it. Problem is: there's a serious amount of carburization on the surface, that will be a **** to clean up. (picture) So the two questions are: can I repeat the quenching process and still end up with a hard edge, and is there a way to minize the carburization in the future? Thanks much!!

Tx folks! I'm in the Boston area and all my forging must be done at a local forge that's set up mainly for teaching. Can't get away with this in my own house, so I have to pay for forge time. This is one reason I found myself migrating to stock removal - that's something I can get away with in the basement. (The wife is still not happy about the dust I generate though.) The handles are a variety of wood, incl. bloodwood, walnut, and maple (leftover from my floors)

Tried my hand at stock removal over past few months and knocked these out... not quite as gratifying as banging the snot out of something and forcing it to comply, and I admittedly feel like I "cheated" ... the design was inspired by Buck's mini alpha-hunter. any comments would be welcome, good and bad.

Folks: what is the general consensus about trying to harden the edge of mid-size bladed (say 1/8 inch wide, 4 inches long) with a regular plummer's torch? Some of these torches develop more heat than others, but would it be a waste even trying? (Before I purchase one for the purpose.) The steels will be 10660-1095, 5160, and O-1. Thanks!

yes I have some experimenting to do with this steel. to answer a couple of questions and points raised: I'd like to normalize but I read that the max temp needs to be reduced each heat cycle otherwise it can work against you, and increase grain size. My inability to judge slight temp reductions by eyesight shyed me away from this approach (normalization). If it is fine to just heat the thing past magnetic each time then fine, but I heard there was something more critical about the temp it needs to reach time (maybe from you Rich?) Nakedanvil: you mentioned "the part must get down to 800 or so at a rapid rate, but from there on down it can cool rather slowly.." This is exactly what I was trying to achieve by removing the blade from the oil at the "right time". Not sure what the flash point is of peanut oil, but I was hoping that the blade was up in the vicinity of 800 degrees when the oil flared back up upon removal from the bin. thanks again for the feedback

thanks. the site's still not letting me upload .jpgs that are just ~ 150KB. I bought the O-1 from texas knifemaking supplies, which I regard a reputable source. Have pounded out many 5160 and 10XX blades before this one, which was also my first ground blade (no forging). It was perfectly flat when received but before heat treating I belt-sanded away the lines (like grain in wood) that ran parallel with the blank to make it much smoother. Soak time was about 5 min at a mid-range orange - to my eyes it was bright, but I feared burning it and used judgement based on work with other steels. The peanut oil was warm to the touch by plunging a couple of heated pieces of mild steel into it. The so-called veins look like a large granular structure. Damascus-type pattern is a good way to explain it, but it was all uniform color. I could probably sand them away. I did not normalize, nor did I temper it back, but tried to remove the blade from the oil at the right time to retain enough heat to let that work on itself for a little softening (the blade re-ignited when removed from the oil and was left to cool.) File test confirms the plunge was fast enough to achieve good hardness. Wish I could affix the pics. thanks agin folks

I quenched an O-1 blade in peanut oil and noticed a strange pattern on the surface of the blade. The pattern looks like veins that are slightly raised on the surface. This was very difficult to photograph but I do have photos to share; however the site is giving me an error message with the picture upload at this time. Would anyone know what this means,and whether I somehow ruined the blade? (My first time dealing with O-1). Thanks for any insight you can provide.

Folks: I see the orange coals burning brightly at the base of my woodburning fireplace, which gets plenty of air from the chimney draw, and have to wonder: is there any solid reason I couldn't heat treat a knife in there? Is it just not enough heat compared to a coal forge with hand-cranked air supply or a gas forge? Thanks

all sounds good - tx. but for those using coal or gas forge who can't see through the SS foil warp, they'd be hard pressed to know when the steel is ready for quenching, right?

Folks: a few related questions: How many of you use tool wrap for heat treating? I imagine this is just for those who heat with a controlled furnace, since you can't see through the wrap to judge the blade's temp. What's the advantage of wrapping a blade in stainless steel foil? (I'm guessing that even heavy gauge aluminum foil would burn up at typical heat treating temps, correct?) Thanks for any guidance here.

I think it sucks ............. that I can't fabricate one that nice.

a knife made from US Navy Destroyer, now that's a marketing concept. how can we arrange for someone to get us a piece of Titanic?