My first knife and question too

[Taurus]

Hello,

I am new to this forum and I would like to show you my first knife I made.
Handle is made of beech, with stainless steel endings.
Knife is made from old chisel.
Blade is 8 cm long.


And the question
I want to ask you people what type of steel should I use to achieve a really hard and good edge(I want to make a knife which holds edge for a long time. I don't really care about rusting, because I want to do wood carving only with it.)

I am from Slovakia and my english is not perfect, so be tolerant please. :)

[rokshasa]

thats a pretty little knife and your english is pretty good too, as for the steel for your knife, i make alot of knives from stuff i have on hand like file for instance. i use alot of coil springs from cars or trucks or leaf springs, these metals will do what you want them too if all you want to do is carve wood, i use oil to quench my blades if they are thin and a luke warm water/salt solution(brine) for my larger blades with the spring steel this seems to work very well for me then i temper with some heat to the spine and watch for the colors then quench again in water when i get the desired color on the edge. hope this helps

[Ed Steinkirchner]

file steel is pretty good steel as is spring steel. when you are done forging take just to non-magnetic and let air cool, do this three times. then take to non-mag again and quench in oil(motor oil, vegetable oil, etc.) then clean to bare metal(so you can see the temper colors)and for carving i would draw color to purple or blue. that should also be done 2 or 3 times. then handle and sharpen.

[reefera4m]

Hello,

I am new to this forum and I would like to show you my first knife I made.
Handle is made of beech, with stainless steel endings.
Knife is made from old chisel.
Blade is 8 cm long.


And the question
I want to ask you people what type of steel should I use to achieve a really hard and good edge(I want to make a knife which holds edge for a long time. I don't really care about rusting, because I want to do wood carving only with it.)

I am from Slovakia and my english is not perfect, so be tolerant please.

First WELCOME! Great beginning knife

Leaf spring steel (5160), properly heat treated will make great wood carving knives. Here's a photo of a couple of wood chisel I made with leaf springs steel. I used the blades to turn the handles out of hickory on a lathe then attached the blades to the handles. The steel held its edge. No noticeable dulling, nicking or bending!

[Taurus]

Thank you for really helpful information, but as I am new to blacksmithing, I don't really know what temper colors are. If I understand it right I brush the blade to bare metal and then heat the blade in forge to exact temperature to achieve the right color? As you said, purple or blue.
Can I see the color right after I draw the blade out of the fire?
Is this procedure reducing the stress inside the blade too? Thats why I should do this for three times ?

I am sorry for asking such a basic questions, but I when made this knife, I was standing near the forge and anvil for the first time, and never done forging before :)

[Ed Steinkirchner]

first off, those are very legitimate questions so no worries. secondly, heat treating is a two step process, first harden (take to non magnetic and quench), second is to temper, which is indeed used to toughen the steel. right after harden ing the steel is SUPER brittle so it needs softened slightly. the colors are surface oxides and are simply indicators of temperature, removing the color won't change the temper. try this, shine up (gring, file, sand, etc) a piece of steel about the length of your finger, polish doesn't matter just bare metal, then heat one end with a torch or even the kitchen stove and watch the colors run. they start yellow then brown then purple then blue and then the colors dissapear. that can show you a good example of all of the temper colors, and should help to grasp the whole process.