Knife making question

[Hammock Hamster]

Hi guys,

I have been meaning to try making a knife for a while and just picked up and annealed billet of 1095 for a first try.

I am going to cut and shape by hand then knock together a jig for cutting in the bevel.

I am going to try and harden and temper myself with an impromptu forge (mapp torch and fire bricks and wanted to know how far to go with the sharpening process before heat treating????

Cheers, Hamster


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[JohnC]

My understanding is that you can burn any sharp edge off too easily during heat treating, so the general shape and bevelling gets done but not too much sharpening.

 

[Hammock Hamster]

My understanding is that you can burn any sharp edge off too easily during heat treating, so the general shape and bevelling gets done but not too much sharpening.

That's what I thought but figured it was worth asking the question.
The first one will purely be a test and I expect there will be a lot of trial and error but makes sense to get as much solid info before I start.


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[Caerleon]

Seconded - for a 3mm thick blade I would strip no more than 1mm either side with something like P60 grit. Then after tempering I would then use P120grit to produce the actual edge (thereafter polishing the bevel moving up the grits to finish on a trizact A16).

There's some excellent tutorials on youtube, one channel I would recommend is Jacklore who provides some great information.

HTH,
Rob

 

[David LaFerney]

If you are using hand tools you will save a lot of work by pretty much shaping the edge before you heat treat. Try not to over heat the edge, and yes it will probably be eroded some (less than you probably think) by the process, but grinding off hardened steel by hand is something you will want to minimize.

Also, with 1095 unless you have fast oil and awesome skill at the forge your heat treatment probably won't result in complete hardening - which is ok, some people do differential hardening on purpose - so the more you grind off the crunchy outside the closer you get to revealing the creamy inside someday.