almost finished this one today, from 4mm o1 with natural tan micarta scales. had a slight warp after heat treat but had a chap come to pick up another knife and he ended up buying this one as well despite the slight warp.
4" bush knife in o1 almost finished
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Nice. Your work has a distinctive signature to it. Could pick it out of a line up. Not usually a fan of micarta on some styles but in that tan colour it really works. Was the warp something that would grind out over time? Must say I can't see it in the picture.
Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
Nice work mate. 
Its easy enough to straighten a warp, but you have to catch it, after the quench, before it goes cold. You normally have a good minute window to straighten it quite easily before its properly cold, so long as your oil is hot before you quench, your blade won't cool fully, (doesn't affect the hardening as its fully hardened when it gets below below 200ºc, it just has a bit more flexibility while warm still) and you can bend things back by hand. Once its cold....... its not gonna play ball.
Its easy enough to straighten a warp, but you have to catch it, after the quench, before it goes cold. You normally have a good minute window to straighten it quite easily before its properly cold, so long as your oil is hot before you quench, your blade won't cool fully, (doesn't affect the hardening as its fully hardened when it gets below below 200ºc, it just has a bit more flexibility while warm still) and you can bend things back by hand. Once its cold....... its not gonna play ball.
Warps tend to be a gentle curve along the length, though it depends on how much of the blade was heated before quenching.
yes its a gentle curve from the plunge to the tip, about a mm or two out of true at the tip. despite looking for it i didnt notice it after quench in time to correct it. i think i know what the problem was this time. the anti scale powder i used has to be applied to hot metal (260c) the 4mm cools quicker than the 5mm and 6mm i normally use. by the time ide dusted one side the other had cooled so the powder probably didnt stick as well. when quenched the anti scale separated on the cooler side which then warped the blade in that direction as it cooled quicker without the anti scale... both blades did exactly the same... lesson learned
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