671jungle Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 While the new forge is in the works, I have been working on a chopper from a 1/2" thick leaf spring using stock removal. Would I need to heat treat the finished blade or will its current state suffice? Thanks for any input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 Without knowing (A) the current state of the blade and (B) how your stock removal has affected any earlier heat treatment, it's impossible to say. If the steel was previously heat treated and that heat treatment was appropriate for a chopper and your stock removal didn't overheat the steel and ruin the heat treatment, then and only then would you not need any further heat treatment. However, if any of those conditions is not true, then Yes, you will probably need to do further heat treatment. For a stock removal blade, I would recommend annealing your blank first, to make cutting, grinding, and filing much, much easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 Herb chopper, tree chopper, motorcycle chopper? A lot depends on what you or the intended user likes in a blade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
671jungle Posted January 10, 2020 Author Share Posted January 10, 2020 5 minutes ago, JHCC said: then and only then Thanks JHCC. It was a slow and steady removal at the grinding wheel. Im assuming the the material was tempered for spring. I cut it right off the pack and went to work. So, I guess my actual question is if a spring temper will hold an edge against bone? It will be mainly used to chop carcasses. Motorcycle chopper! With one swing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 4 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said: Herb chopper What did Herb ever do to you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzkill Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 Springs tend to be not quite as hard as we prefer the cutting edges on a knife-like object to be. Leaf springs also tend to have an uncanny ability to regain the curvature they had when in the spring pack. For a bone chopper you may want a little softer edge than for a slicer, but still probably harder than the spring temper. This may be a good place for an edge quench if you have a straight blade with a thick spine. Otherwise I'd recommend going through the entire annealing, normalizing, quenching, etc. process and doing a differential temper at the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 There are several that I would refrain from chopping only because my wife might use the results for cooking. Or a differential temper drawing from the spine to the edge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 I suggest that you consider a 'cannel grind' profile for bone chopping. Cutting Knife profiles will not work as well. And they might chip or worse, shatter. Just my two cents worth. SLAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
671jungle Posted January 10, 2020 Author Share Posted January 10, 2020 Thank you Gents. 1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said: differential temper This is how I was going to go about it if the forge was up and running: heat, quench in oil, draw from spine till edge is purple. Or : heat, quench, and temper in oven at 550 deg for a couple of hrs twice. I was trying to avoid this, but if this is what it takes so be it. I could quick fab a roll of ceramic and stick a burner in it for a complete HT. But then I would've never asked the question. 33 minutes ago, SLAG said: 'cannel grind' Thank you slag. Already done, I had it in mind when I started. I didn't know what it was called until you suggested it although I have been aware different edges for quite some time. Still a lot of material to remove. It currently weighs 7ishlbs. Most of the heft is in the handle. It was cut from the end of the leaf which has a nice taper. It is not completely straight but enough to index accurately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 Klingon tongue depressor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCalvert Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Orcish chef's knife? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
671jungle Posted January 11, 2020 Author Share Posted January 11, 2020 18 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: Klingon tongue depressor 11 hours ago, MCalvert said: Orcish chef's knife? Hehe, I know it ain’t pretty and is wholly overweight but I like her lines. I was thinking of naming it Yhorm’s straight razor. Yhorm is a giant in Dark Souls lore. (A game) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCalvert Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 I like it. Yhorm's razor has a ring to it, don't it just. If you're going to chop carcasses then it should be great, if the grinding goes well anyway.. and provided there's no cracks! What about Cormoran's corn clipper? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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