I thought I'd share these with you

[gamekeeper]

Hi Folks,
I thought I'd share some of the knives that I have made.

Mrs nicked this one

Unfortunately this last one snapped when I tried to straighten it after forging, mind you, it was only 3mm thick.

They have all been made using 01 flatstock, forged & hardened by my own hand. I regularly use one for skinning when I'm out shooting.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Shewie]

Good stuff Dave

keep `em coming


Rich

 

[gamekeeper]

I was gutted when the last one snapped, I had just done all the filework on the spine. A
sort of apprentice piece if you will. Tried to straighten it in a vice with 3 bits of welding rod as rollers - just one tweak too many.

 

[redneck]

wow, they're all very impressive, well done!

 

[robin wood]

They have all been made using 01 flatstock, forged & hardened by my own hand.
Cheers
Dave

Nice ones Dave, not sure I understand what you are doing in the forge if its flatstock. Shame the one broke was it too hard?

 

[gamekeeper]

The forging process, as I call it merely means the tempering, not as you may think, hammering out etc.

The 3mm one was just a pain, because it was so thin it took 3 or 4 attempts to get it right before quenching in oil, honestly the progress of the desired heat could not be controlled on such a thin steel. Time wise, I reckon it must have been about half a second from verging on just right to too much heat.

Thicker steels are easy to work with.

 

[robin wood]

If you wanted to share your process I am sure you would get good advice on how sort it next time. Plenty of knife makers on here and 3mm should be no more difficult to harden and temper than 4mm. Properly heat treated it should bend a long way further than you were trying to and still spring back so sounds like it was considerably too hard. What heat source do you use for tempering? oven? blow torch? gas ring? forge? and what method were you using to know when you had it tempered correctly?

 

[gamekeeper]

I used my 'home made' forge - big cooking pot with hole cut in, wok on top with holes & coals. The wife' old hair dryer as an air source.

I heat up coals & blades until no magnetism (tested using a welding magnet) then oil quench, once cool & burnt oil removed I then use a blow torch until straw coloured.

The only problem with knife making is you never get your money back on them or time, it seems that people want things for nowt these days.

 

[fishfish]

nice stuff mate!

 

[rancid badger]

I had a similar problem when I tried to make a utility knife, the blade curved in the "forge" I've since found that a lot of people seem to temper their blades in their domestic oven.

Apparently, it goes in at full temperature for a certain time, it's then quenched and that's more or less it

I'll take their word for it, when my blade snapped, I used the blade to make a smashing (no pun intended ) little whittling/carving knife:
Its the light coloured ash handled one below second from the right.

The shard was nearly three inches long so I was able to grind a bit of a tang on it, then glue and hammer the ash handle on.
It's a useful little knife made from scrap!

Nice work by the way Dave
I particularly like the curved ash handled one.
all the best
R.B.

 

[robin wood]

Sounds like you have the hardening sorted and were let down by the tempering. As RB says electric oven is controllable and repeatable but it depends how hot yours goes. You really want a good 250 degrees (It does vary a little depending on the steel but not much) So crank your oven as hot as it will go and pop your hardened blade in there. Keep an eye on it but you should get a nice even straw right across, quench and job done. If you want to differentially temper you can then soften the back a bit by taking it to purple or blue with your blow torch and quenching again, soft back hard edge.

 

[JohnC]

Robin, do you quench after tempering? I've read elsewhere of aircooling after tempering and repeating the tempering 2-3 times, something about releasing stresses in the metal from the initial hardening..

 

[robin wood]

Robin, do you quench after tempering? I've read elsewhere of aircooling after tempering and repeating the tempering 2-3 times, something about releasing stresses in the metal from the initial hardening..

My suspicion is that it does not make a huge difference, whether it cools quickly or slowly from 250 degrees, I personally do dip them just so they are cold and I can get on with the job. (I make very few knives but I have forged all my own turning tools for many years and the process is the same) From discussions on British Blades I don't think triple tempering really has any significant effect though many folk just do it anyway. I guess the other reason I quench after tempering is habit. I learnt to temper the old blacksmith way where with a tool like a chisel you heat the whole tool, quench the end then quickly polish and watch the heat travel back down from the hot handle end, as the colours get just as you want them you quench again. You can do the same with a knife putting the heat into the back and watching the heat (and tempering colours) head towards the edge then quenching just when you get what you are looking for.

The one time when multiple cycles does have a significant effect is if you have heated it very high and blown the grain then several cycles taking it just up to but not far beyond critical will get you a nice small even grain back before hardening and tempering. This should not be an issue with a stock removal knife where you should not be getting it hot enough to blow the grain in the first place. many ways to do the same job and all the results will be slightly different but it has to be a lot tong way off to actually break or to be so soft it won't hold an edge. The whole thing is a lot easier and more forgiving than many folk think.

 

[JohnC]

Thanks for that.. that makes sense, I'm planning to heat treat a couple of blades next weekend, one a hook knife so I'll try both to see the difference..