Nicholson knife blank 1095 steel

[sat man]

I am new to this forum so be nice. I am in the midst of buying and reselling old kitchen knives, old forged blades by various makers.

I bought  this Nicholson and Bellota 12" Knife Blanks Made in USA and Spain NEW . The vendor says it is 1095 with rockwell hardness of 62-65 !  I know this is hard and all I use right now is a HF 1x30 belt sander with belts from red label ? Can this be shaped as is but slowly. I think she said it .125 thick I guess it make a BIG chef's knife, I'm also thinking maybe a paring knife but how do i cut it-cut off wheel ?

Thanks for any help

Mike

[George N. M.]

Welcome aboard Mike.  If you put your general location in your profile we will be able to give better answers to any questions.  Validity and relevance may vary if you are in the USA, Lapland, or Malasia.  We have folk from over 150 countries participating here.  Also, if you haven't already, read the "Read This First" link up at the top of the page.  Be nice and remember that this is a family friendly forum and you will stay right with the moderators.

Assuming that the 1095 is not hardened you can cut it with pretty much anything, hacksaw, abrasive wheel, hot or cold chisel, cutting torch or plasma cutter, or anything else.

The hardness would be after it is heated and quenched but before tempering.  If it cuts with a file it has not been hardened.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Shaping it like it is , called stock removal has been used by some world class knife makers. If you don't have a forge to heat and shape it, stock removal will work if it's hardened & tempered. It will take a lot longer with a 1X30 belt sander, just have a bucket with water to keep t cool. Holding the stock with bare hands will tell you when to quench it to keep it cool. A cutoff wheel will work for cutting it, just be sure to wear PPE. To me .125 would be too thick for a chefs knife so thinning it down would make a better one. My favorite chefs knife is .080 thick.

[Latticino]

I'm not sure I am following you completely.  Are you attempting to make kitchen knives out of Nicholson or Bellota files?  Of course you can do this with pure stock removal as indicated in the above, but it will be a pretty tough task with a harbor freight 1 x 30 (particularly once you get the bevels down to a reasonable thickness).  You will have to be very careful of overheating, and for belt efficiency you should be using the more expensive ceramic grit belts and changing them out often (as soon as they start to lose their cutting ability). Might end up being a pretty expensive prospect from an abrasive point of view.

You also need to beware that many of the cheaper new files are only case hardened, so once you grind through the hard surface the steel left is drastically softer.  Case hardened files are not suitable knife blank material.  In my opinion, if they are not case hardened a good file is worth more as a tool than a piece of blade making stock, but each to their own.

My recommendation would be to order 1/8" thick knifemaking bar stock in whatever width you need for your blades, fully annealed, from a supplier like New Jersey Steel Baron, Alpha, Jantz...  then you can do all the profiling and rough shaping with your HF grinder and make the final bevels with your 12" files.  Send it out for proper heat treating from a local service and do your hand finishing with sand paper on a sanding block afterwards.

Not sure what that has to do with buying and selling of older kitchen knives by other makers either.