First Knife!

[Bushcraftsman]

So for the first time ever, I decided I would make a knife, this will be an on going thing with regular updates, all i've done tonight is cut out the general shape...

it is made of 3mm austentic stainless steel, the two "sharp points" are going to be rounded and so is the top corner of the handle area. I am still to drill the holes for the pins and apply the actual blade itself, my plan to do that is get the grind as even as i can all the way along with a grinder, then finish off with a file, and finally give it all a little polish, after I have done that I will use one of the knife sharpeners that you get from IKEA to finish off the blade and hopefully apply a decent enough edge to the blade...but if you can think of a better way...please let me know...this is what I have so far, the white sheet of vinyl is just to stop scratches atm, lets get this show started!

Thanks

Jordan

 

[Bushcraftsman]

oh and p.s. This will probably sound stupid, but how "hard" is stainless steel? would it keep an edge? and if not, would it be possible to harden it just over a gas cooker heating it up then quenching it immediately in a bucket of water? or am I going to have to go out and set a fire in the woods....

Thanks

 

[lannyman8]

stainless is very hard to heat treat (HT) and cant be done at home really, what you want is some O1 tool steel from cromwells, it does not cost that much and would be easyer to work with all round and can be HT at home, in a fire or BBQ bowl...

that is unless your stainless is all ready hardened, i dont use stainless for the above reasons...

regards.

chris.

 

[Bushcraftsman]

I think it has been hardened already. I believe the state it's in is referred to as austentite which I think happens to it after the hardening process. But don't quote me on it I'm not entirely sure! I chose stainless Because it would never rust and prevent any corrosion or contamination of the blade.

 

[Skaukraft]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austenite

Without knowing if or how the steel is hardended, and to what hardness the steel has been annealed to after hardening I would not bother wasting time and money trying to make a knife of it.
Not all stainless steels are suitable for knives and edged tools. There are skilled people in here that probably can help you out determine if the steel can be used for a knife.