August 31, 200619 yr The little one I heat treated last Sunday, and put the handles on Tuseday night. The Big one I've had mostly done since early summer , but finally got around to carving the sheath. Jens
August 31, 200619 yr Jens I love the little one, intresting knot you have on it. Good to see you got the big 'un done :)
August 31, 200619 yr Nice! So, what are you doing with all these knives you are making? Selling? I took my case of knives into a restraunt, and showed them to my friends. And gave him one. They also said, that was the fastest service they ever got at that restraunt! The waitress said, if I didn't like the food, to remember she didn't cook it! But she, and the boss lady, liked the knives, and did not seem to think it was odd that I brought them in to show.
August 31, 200619 yr Author Yeah Bob, I have a 3 day long demo I'm doing this weekend , Steve -aka -Tenhammers and I will be Forging away at Midest Old Threshers. Hopefully I can sell a few of my little knives to pay for some of those grinding belts and some of that charcoal. Gotta sell a few to support the habit Jens
August 31, 200619 yr Jens, what steel are you using, and why? I have used new 5160, coil spring, and ball bearing race[52100]. I figure tho, that if I was to sell anything, I'd use new stock. Less chance of any stress cracks in the steel, and the customer should get new steel. BUT, as I am just making knives for the heck of it, for me, and for practice, and to give as gifts, I can use whatever steel I want! Or have on hand. I don't give no warranty! I'm making knives lately, because I can, I guess. My motto is Might as Well Make What I Can, as What I Can't!
August 31, 200619 yr Author Bob I have 3 favorite steels right now 1084 , 1095 and 5160. I use mostly new steel except for the occasional recycled file. IMHO A used file is pretty safe compared to a used spring. But I think that if I'm selling 8-10 inches of knife for $100 ++ ( or better I Hope ! ) I can afford to buy 5 feet of new steel for $8.00. Nothing is more annoying than spending a bunch of time on a blade to find out that there is 10,000 micro stress cracks in it, and of course you can't see 'em till you get the blade hand sanded to 2000 grit. Besides if I KNOW what I'm working with there are no surprises when it comes to heat treating and I dont like surprises there, especially the "Ping of Death ". I Like using 1095 & 1084 for most of my smaller blades and I really like the way it shows a hamon line, plus it don't cut to bad either. 5160 is a good honest blade steel and real nice for bigger blades, if I can nail the heat treat right it will take all the abuse I can dish out and then some. I don't subscribe to the "super steel of the month club" so you won't find any "S30 super bla bla bla..." Steels in my knives, but I have been experimenting a little with some W-1, O-1 and 52100 all of which are good honest blade steels IMHO. Jens
September 1, 200619 yr Can someone elaborate a little on these specialty steels and what the deal is with them!?
September 1, 200619 yr Author AM do a search for high carbon steel here: MatWeb - The Online Materials Information Resource There are a few years worth of reading material here you can look up all the steels you want for info like this : E52100 Component Wt. % C 0.98 - 1.1 Cr 1.45 Fe 97 Mn 0.35 P Max 0.025 S Max 0.025 Si 0.23 Material Notes: E52100 has metallurgical and processing characteristics similar to alloy TBS-9, HRC tests taken after 1 hour at tempering temperature Physical Properties Metric English Comments Density 7.81 g/cc 0.282 lb/in
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