Cromwell steel

[harryhawk]

For my 1st go at knife making I ordered some o1 ground flatstock from Cromwell steel. I ordered from the Plymouth branch yesterday afternoon and it was delivered to my place of work this morning! They deliver to Exeter everyday so I didn't even get charged P+P!
2 lengths of 4mmx30mmx500 all in for £15.34! Bargain
I can even afford to make mistakes at that price


USELESS FACT!
The delivery driver was a winner of the Premiership with Blackburn Rovers in the 90's and comes from my home town!



Forgot to say no relation to the above company, just very pleased with the service received.

 

[Kerne]

Do you have a link for the company?

 

[craven]

hey harry,
Have u got contact details as been after some for ages?:You_Rock_

 

[FGYT]

http://www.cromwell.co.uk/

 

[launditch1]

This stuff is also available on fleabay under the title 'ground flat stock' and gauge plate.

 

[Dave Budd]

I get all sorts from Cromwells, including any O1 I use (sold as guage plate or GFS). Always great to deal with. I tend to deal directly with the online mail order service (though I phone them due to a hang up from before I had regular t'internet access), that way I don't have to put up with numpties at local branches not having something in stock or not knowing what I'm talking about!

 

[harryhawk]

If you go to the Cromwell website look for the branches local to you for contact details.
As Dave said you could get a numptie on the other end of the phone, guess I got lucky. Look up the order number on the website and hope they've got it in stock.
Dave and Craven see you next week.



USELESS FACT ANSWER....
Nicky Marker was the van driver.

 

[craven]

nice one harry, ordered this morning, will be delivered to my work tomorrow, grinder and belt sander standing by! Have you got a set up for the heat treating yet?

 

[harryhawk]

H/T? Was going to try in the living room fire. (with coal)
From past experience of burning out a hatchet and a pick axe in the fire. I know the steel should get up to cheery red colour. I'll use a magnet as well.
Failing that I'd ask the nice Mr Budd:notworthy if I could pop along the next time his forge is fired up.
He's a lovely man that Mr Budd

 

[craven]

I have some oxy torches and tons of various welding equip to play round with, I'm sure I can find something to get it to temp! I'll be interested to see what u come up with harry!?
Thanks again for the tip!

 

[Dave Budd]

H/T? Was going to try in the living room fire. (with coal)
From past experience of burning out a hatchet and a pick axe in the fire. I know the steel should get up to cheery red colour. I'll use a magnet as well.
Failing that I'd ask the nice Mr Budd:notworthy if I could pop along the next time his forge is fired up.
He's a lovely man that Mr Budd

:yelrotflm Flattery will get you (almost) everywhere!

The first couple of blades that i made were hardened in my parents' living room using the anthracite fire. Mum wasn't too chuffed about me filling the house with motor oil fumes and drips of oil on the rug

Look up the one brick forge on t'interweb, or a fan assisted BBQ using a few bricks, bit of pipe and a hair dryer

any problems then you know where I am

 

[harryhawk]

Cheers Dave:You_Rock_
I'm going to go down the living room fire route. Did you have much success?
Must remember to open windows and disconnect the smoke alarms. I was going to quench in veg oil. Hope this cuts down the smoke!

 

[Gwhtbushcraft]

Cheers Dave:You_Rock_
I was going to quench in veg oil. Hope this cuts down the smoke!

It certainly rather smell chips in the house than a burning car

 

[Dave Budd]

Cheers Dave:You_Rock_
I'm going to go down the living room fire route. Did you have much success?
Must remember to open windows and disconnect the smoke alarms. I was going to quench in veg oil. Hope this cuts down the smoke!

try peanut oil it has a higher flash point and the smoke is slightly less acrid/thick than other vegie oils. If you are running small lumps of coal (beans not big fists) then your should be ok, just make sure there is a good draft on the coals to get the heat. you can always point a hairdryer in the general direction of the air inlet at teh bottom of the grate.

 

[bushscout1]

When I heat treated my knife, we did it in the barbeque, getting a good fire going and then burying the shaped blank in the embers. We got it up to temperature using an airbed pump attached to some metal piping.

This was an improvement over the previous occasion when we heat treated my mates knife blank, as I ended up severely out of breath and nearly lost my eyebrows... thought we'd do it with a length of copper pipe as a blow poker - you don't want to get your face THAT close when you're getting the fire THAT hot !!!

We checked it had reached the appropriate 'cherry red' colour and used a magnet as a back up.

We also heated up a couple of old bolts which we chucked into the tin of oil first to raise the temperature slightly before quenching the knife blank.

Once we'd done this it was stuck in the kitchen oven for an hour to temper it.

I hope that helps.

 

[nickg]

ive made about 10 knives from cromwell O1 with great results - i use a couple of bottles of tesco veg oil costs next to nothing and when cool put back into the bottle for next time. virtually no smell - no ignition and doesnt colour the steel too much tempered in the oven for a couple of hours at 200 ish - i usually set the oven up last thing at night on a timer so it turns off & the steel cools slowly till morning - works great

Cheers

Nick

 

[FGYT]

yep used 1ltr of Tesco Veg oil in a jug so not a lot
used a Propane blow torch with approx a 40mm head on and a couple of thermalite blocks no real smoke or smell etc just did the blade end so the handle staysed softer

Temper was 220 deg C in the oven for 1 hr and came out a loverly even Straw gold colour


Went to Cromwell yesterday as i was passing they didnt have the Size 01 i needed but as the van comes out this way they will drop it of free tuesday

3mm x 40mm general Bushy knives
3mm x 60mm Fancy a go at a Nessy
1.5mm x 10mm Want to try some Curved spoon knives

ATB

Duncan

 

[Kerne]

Thanks for this thread. I've just ordered some O1 off Cromwell and my ex-farrier mate wot works with me is going to show me how to make a knife. Can't wait!

 

[harryhawk]

That's what's so great about this site.
Thanks for the info.
Inspiration and a few good tips and Robert's your mums brother.
Shaped the blank today and put the bevels on. Not upto the makers standard but I'm happy with it. Will have another go at shaping, grinding and filing the other half of steel and then have a go at the heat treating then both.
Anybody used Ally tube for a lanyard tube?
Got fibre liners on order from fleabay.
Got brass pins.
Got glue.
Got some well seasoned English Walnut to make into scales.
Just need the time.

 

[FGYT]

got a length of 8mm and 6mm alu tube from B&Q no reason not to use it

Ive just shaped a blank today and just marked out a 3/4 size as well (starting to get obsessive about 3/4 size )
not a file or hacksaw in site yet Angle grinder , bench grinder and Piller drill mounted Drum sander. Top tip : make the internal rads on the form the same or much bigger than the rad of the drum sanders you have much quicker not having to go to a round file and generate it much neater finish and square too will also help when you shape the handle.
Many bevels, tapers and convexes to go yet tho

ATB

Duncan