My Blade Is DONE!!!!!!!

Samon

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 24, 2011
3,970
45
Britannia!
sorry, yes i did, HT in my gas forge and temper at gas mark 8 for 1.5 hours, should work out about RC 60 ish depending on the oven...;)

I checked out green petes website and read his tempering guide, coudly you temper a knife just in a home oven? and how hard is the 01 before tempering?
 

lannyman8

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 18, 2009
4,005
3
Dark side of the Moon
I checked out green petes website and read his tempering guide, coudly you temper a knife just in a home oven? and how hard is the 01 before tempering?

well the O1 is anealed, basicly, before the HT so soft, after the HT its rock hard but very brittle, if you drop the blade it would shatter its so hard, this is why we temper the steel to give it strength, the balance is to get the temper right so you will end up with a good strong hard working and hard wearing blade...

you can use any oven but of course it depends how accurate the oven is to hot and the blade goes soft to cold and the blade could brake......

you can use colour to help so you dont go to far though, light straw brown is a good blade hardness.....

hope this helps...

chris.
 

Samon

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 24, 2011
3,970
45
Britannia!
well the O1 is anealed, basicly, before the HT so soft, after the HT its rock hard but very brittle, if you drop the blade it would shatter its so hard, this is why we temper the steel to give it strength, the balance is to get the temper right so you will end up with a good strong hard working and hard wearing blade...

you can use any oven but of course it depends how accurate the oven is to hot and the blade goes soft to cold and the blade could brake......

you can use colour to help so you dont go to far though, light straw brown is a good blade hardness.....

hope this helps...

chris.

ah..so the home oven is only for tempering, not the full heat treatment. do you know what sort of heat will damage a temper from grinding or simular tooled sharpening?
 

ged

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jul 16, 2009
4,992
28
In the woods if possible.
.. do you know what sort of heat will damage a temper from grinding or simular tooled sharpening?

Grinding with an uncooled wheel can overheat the steel in a fraction of a second if you aren't careful. Most grinding wheels are designed to take metal off fast, and doing that generates a lot of heat very quickly -- you'll see a shower of white-hot sparks the instant you touch the blade to the wheel. Don't let the stone touch one spot on the blade for an appreciable length of time. That part of the blade will get hot, perhaps hot enough to turn blue if you're careless. You really don't want a lot of concentrated heat going into a knife blade once it's heat treated. Ideally you would use a liquid cooled stone, such things are made for e.g. workshops that do a lot of sharpening. The stone tends to rotate much more slowly and a layer of coolant (like cutting oil) is continuously pumped onto the stone. You might get away with it if you're careful with an ordinary bench grinder, taking metal off the blade slowly, and cooling the blade in a bucket of water every few seconds. But one slip and the blade could be ruined. Don't get caught in the wheel when you lean over to cool the blade in the bucket.

It's easier to prevent overheating if you're using something like a belt sander but it's still possible to do damage.
 

ged

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jul 16, 2009
4,992
28
In the woods if possible.
my first propper blade thats to a really good standard.....;)

It's great, Chris! I bet you're proud of it. :)

pic's are a bit pants......

The photography isn't too bad but you need to invest in a better background material! I'd take a look at what some of the pro's do on their photos. Some of them are quite impressive but I think you need to tailor the background to the knife to some extent.

What's next then?
 

Samon

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 24, 2011
3,970
45
Britannia!
Grinding with an uncooled wheel can overheat the steel in a fraction of a second if you aren't careful. Most grinding wheels are designed to take metal off fast, and doing that generates a lot of heat very quickly -- you'll see a shower of white-hot sparks the instant you touch the blade to the wheel. Don't let the stone touch one spot on the blade for an appreciable length of time. That part of the blade will get hot, perhaps hot enough to turn blue if you're careless. You really don't want a lot of concentrated heat going into a knife blade once it's heat treated. Ideally you would use a liquid cooled stone, such things are made for e.g. workshops that do a lot of sharpening. The stone tends to rotate much more slowly and a layer of coolant (like cutting oil) is continuously pumped onto the stone. You might get away with it if you're careful with an ordinary bench grinder, taking metal off the blade slowly, and cooling the blade in a bucket of water every few seconds. But one slip and the blade could be ruined. Don't get caught in the wheel when you lean over to cool the blade in the bucket.

It's easier to prevent overheating if you're using something like a belt sander but it's still possible to do damage.

ok, the blades been hot before but not untouchable. can you reccomend any cheap metal files? ive been using a medium grade file on my machete and axe but its starting to wear out a bit. could do with a few more.
 

ged

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jul 16, 2009
4,992
28
In the woods if possible.
ok, the blades been hot before but not untouchable. can you reccomend any cheap metal files? ive been using a medium grade file on my machete and axe but its starting to wear out a bit. could do with a few more.

If the blades are very hard they might well damage files. You might be better off using emery with a backing board, or a coarse stone, or one of the diamond powder coated things, although I would hesitate to use one of those on an axe. I always use a stone for a machete, you can get one with a wooden handle in many garden centres etc. for a couple of quid, or you can get one about the size of a big cigar in severl online tool merchants like Axminster:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/page/find/?name=sharpening stone&page=1
 

lannyman8

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 18, 2009
4,005
3
Dark side of the Moon
It's great, Chris! I bet you're proud of it. :)



The photography isn't too bad but you need to invest in a better background material! I'd take a look at what some of the pro's do on their photos. Some of them are quite impressive but I think you need to tailor the background to the knife to some extent.

What's next then?

Thanks Ged, and whats wrong with my tea towel background....;)

the next 1 is for the man who gave me the corrian, "Robbi", looking at some of his blades mine are not as good, but its the thought that counts.......:)

its going to be a small ish blade, a skinner/hunter style 4mm O1, stick tang, with his CORRIAN alli and brass layers, maybe finished with some spalted erm somint i have in the shed, will have to see how the wood looks with the others first though.....

thanks all...

chris.
 

HillBill

Bushcrafter through and through
Oct 1, 2008
8,163
158
W. Yorkshire
sorry, yes i did, HT in my gas forge and temper at gas mark 8 for 1.5 hours, should work out about RC 60 ish depending on the oven...;)

Nice work there mate :)

What colour was it when you took it out mate? It only takes around 45 minutes to heat the steel through too :)
 

lannyman8

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 18, 2009
4,005
3
Dark side of the Moon
Nice work there mate :)

What colour was it when you took it out mate? It only takes around 45 minutes to heat the steel through too :)

well i did it for an hour and when i looked at it, it was not as dark (straw like) as i wanted it, so moved the shelf up 1 slot and did another 30 mins, this seemed to do the trick....

i wanted to give it a good soak because this blade is thicker than my others and could end up being used with out my axe, that means lots of battering......;) just me being OTT probley...:)

turned out ok, still needs some polish work and maybe some high grit sanding in places, but overall quite happy with it, my first O1 flat stock, so its ok ish.....
 

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