First bowie

[Gustav]

Hey guys!

This is my first "weapon", a 35 cm long bowie. It's also the biggest knife I've made so far. The blade has a warp and the "brute de forge" might have been too much. I could probably also have ground and polished the guard and pommel a bit. They were cast in a metal I don't know the name of in English, but it's 85% Cu, 5% Sn, 5% Zn, 5% Pb. It also doesn't really shave, which is a bit lame. I went from 300-600-1200 on diamond stones and finished on a strop with green polishing paste. Go finer? Make sure you have a small angle? What do you think?

[ThomasPowers]

What alloy is the blade made from and what was the heat treat?

[Gustav]

Thomas Powers - Forgot about that. 80CrV2 quenched in canola oil and tempered at 200°C 1h x 2

[Buzzkill]

80CrV2 tends to have a thicker decarb layer than a lot of alloys used in knife making.  Your edge geometry certainly plays a part in your ability to get and retain a sharp edge, but if you haven't ground through the decarburized layer on the edge to the hardened steel underneath that can also have an impact.

[Gustav]

Buzzkill - It stays sharp, but that's good to know. I chopped a lot of wood when trying to get it in place for the picture and it didn't lose any sharpness. I just couldn't bring it to shaving when I sharpened it in the first place.

 

[Buzzkill]

Then my guess is the edge geometry is the biggest factor.  I have made knives from 80CrV2 which were still sharp enough to shave arm hair after chopping through a 4 inch diameter piece of dry wild cherry.

[Gustav]

Buzzkill - Ok, what angle did you aim for?

[George N. M.]

Dear Gustav,

Not a knife response but my grandfather was born in the Smaland area before he immigrated to the US in the early 1890s.  Do you know any Monssons in the area?  They may be possible distant relatives.

"by hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Buzzkill]

Gustav,

The angle depends on the intended use of the knife.  Slicers benefit from lower angles than choppers, for instance.  Around 22 degrees is good for general purpose imho. That's sharpening angle, not bevel angle.  Obviously the bevel angle has to be less than the sharpening angle.

[Gustav]

George N.M. Wow, that's interesting. I also have ancestors that immigrated (also from Småland) around the time your grandfather did. I might have heard about a Månsson sometime, but Småland is very big. It's a big chunk of southern Sweden.

 

Buzzkill Okay, it might be the sharpening angle. I thought "oh this is a chopper so it must have a really high angle" but  I might have gone too far. I will keep that in mind!

Edited June 6, 2020 by Mod30
Remove @ name tags

[JHCC]

7 minutes ago, Gustav said:

Småland is very big

I'd have thought it was rather small.

[Frosty]

Gustav: Please don't use the  @  tag with people's names. It causes problems for the Iforge operating system and will irritate Admin and mods fixing the issues.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Gustav]

JHCC, it's the third largest province in Sweden (out of 25) at 29 330 km^2 (~11324 mi^2) but compared to most states in the US it's quite small, yes. Everything is bigger in the US, right?

And Frosty, thanks for letting me know!

[ThomasPowers]

Yes my State is 121697 sq miles and Frosty's state is 663300 sq miles; Sweden is 173860; but a whole lot of that is pretty much nothing in both our states (and I, for one, *like* it that way!)

[Frosty]

You're welcome Gustav. Tagging names is pretty much normal in quite a few social media so lots of folks use them here. I've found if I help keep the workload down on the moderators they cut me more slack when I say something I shouldn't. And saying something offensive is easy on a forum that reaches 150 countries around the world. So we help each other when we can.

Alaska is big alright if we divided it up between the permanent population everybody would get more than 100 sq. miles. It's a nice thing to be able to swing a cat with a trebuchet.  Unfortunately it can be a long LONG way to the store. 

Frosty The Lucky.