Branstetter Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 This is my first completed effort at a forged blade. I started with a roller from a very large bearing and a chunk of Nevada driftwood (old pallet in the yard). I lucked out on the tempering. I cracked the first one... Takes and keeps an edge very nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robakyo Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 Nice profile. Good looking first knife. Your "driftwood" is spectacular. How did you attach the scales? Internal pins? You shouldn't need to rely on luck in order to properly heat treat. There are plenty of stickies and knifemaking lessons in this forum to answer such questions. You can learn how to test even mystery steel by experimentation. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 did you anneal it before heat treating? if not that might have helped. it can't and won't resolve all problems but it does relive some of the stress in the blade. Littleblacksmith annealing is a heat treatment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branstetter Posted February 29, 2016 Author Share Posted February 29, 2016 Thank you. Internal pins and epoxy hold it all together. The reason I say 'lucked out' is because I'm new to the process. I have read as much as I could about heat treating but still need to get more of the hands on experience to acquire the feel for it. Thanks for the input, I'll take all I can get! And I'm quite certain what the material is. These rollers came from a very large timken, 11-3/4" O.D., luckily quality steel. A friend gave me 3 of these bearings so I have about 100 rollers to play with as well as the very heavy internal and external races. Should be enough material to keep me learning for some time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malice9610 Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 One trick that I was told that has helped my heat treating process GREATLY might be something to try. If you are using an open solid fuel forge ( Coal / Charcoal ) stick a pipe in the forge which your knife will fit into, and then heap coals around it. the pipe will help uniformly heat the knife without direct contact with the flames, and since it is inside the pipe, its easier to see the decalescence in the blade where it makes the phase change. also makes it less likely you will overheat the blade. I also use the pipe trick for my normalizations, that way I can watch the blade and make sure it does not get too hot, works a treat for grain refinement. Nice knife, I like how the scale on the blade and the handle material complement each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 1 hour ago, Malice9610 said: One trick that I was told that has helped my heat treating process GREATLY might be something to try. If you are using an open solid fuel forge ( Coal / Charcoal ) stick a pipe in the forge which your knife will fit into, and then heap coals around it. the pipe will help uniformly heat the knife without direct contact with the flames, and since it is inside the pipe, its easier to see the decalescence in the blade where it makes the phase change. also makes it less likely you will overheat the blade. I also use the pipe trick for my normalizations, that way I can watch the blade and make sure it does not get too hot, works a treat for grain refinement. Nice knife, I like how the scale on the blade and the handle material complement each other. Malice9610, do you close off the end of the pipe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 I close off one end of the pipe and add some powdered charcoal in it to help scavenge oxygen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malice9610 Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 Yes, one end is closed off, I just stuck mine in the forge, heated it up, flattened one end out and then folded it over to create a seal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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