1095 blade with brass

JeffAvery

JeffAvery

Joined
Sep 20, 2022
Messages
6
Hello,

I've wanted to dive into knife making for a lot of years. I've been reading forums and watching YouTube for a couple years now and I'm finally in a place I can take a stab at making some. I finished my first knife, and it turned out OK, I think. Working on a skeleton knife now and I'd like to put some brass pins in the handle and I'm not sure if you do that before you heat treat or after. I've searched Google for a bit now and I can't find anything that says that's a good or bad idea to do before heat treating. Wondering if anyone had some thoughts on it.

Thank you,

Jeff

First knife:

knife2.jpg

knife1.jpg
 
If you mean doing the drilling. Before.

Otherwise after.

Also great knife. Looks much better than my first blade.
 
"....Working on a skeleton knife now and I'd like to put some brass pins in the handle and I'm not sure if you do that before you heat treat or after. I've searched Google for a bit now and I can't find anything that says that's a good or bad idea to do before heat treating. Wondering if anyone had some thoughts on it?"

As Devin said - you add brass features after HT.

MY question to you would be - Why would you add the handle before HT?
 
By skeleton knife do you mean a knife that is just bare steel? That's what Im thinking you meant. Idk how the brass pins would come into play though.
 
Well, it's moot now, until I get motivated to try again anyway. It warped in the quench and cracked when I tried to bring it back a bit while heat treating :/ I pasted a pic so you could see what I wanted to do with the brass pins.
knife3.jpg
 
JeffAvery said:
Well, it's moot now, until I get motivated to try again anyway. It warped in the quench and cracked when I tried to bring it back a bit while heat treating :/ I pasted a pic so you could see what I wanted to do with the brass pins.
knife3.jpg
Click to expand...
Next time you heat treat a blade, clamp it between two hard flat surfaces after quenching before it fully cools. This should help with warping issues.
 
TheEdge01 said:
Next time you heat treat a blade, clamp it between two hard flat surfaces after quenching before it fully cools. This should help with warping issues.
Click to expand...
I will, thank you. I have a clamp set up for it, but the first two blades I did went fine so I got cocky. Live and learn :/
 
Some tips on the next one:
Chamfer all the holes. This removes stress risers that lead to breaks.

On a knife like your use a higher temper. 450°F would be good.

Taking that "bump" out of the handle will make it look and hold better. A smooth palm swell from the finger groove to the butt is all you need/want.

Your spine line looks good, but straighten the edge on the next one. The belly on that blade rising up to the ricasso has no advantage.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Some tips on the next one:
Chamfer all the holes. This removes stress risers that lead to breaks.

On a knife like your use a higher temper. 450°F would be good.

Taking that "bump" out of the handle will make it look and hold better. A smooth palm swell from the finger groove to the butt is all you need/want.

Your spine line looks good, but straighten the edge on the next one. The belly on that blade rising up to the ricasso has no advantage.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the advice! That makes sense, chamfering the holes. I'll do that on v2. I agree on the bump, it didn't feel right in my hand at all. The last couple of patterns I made, I have this tendency to belly the blade like that. I even took about 1/8th off this one. I didn't care for that look either while I was making it. Thanks again for your thoughts. I'll post v2 when I get there.
 
JeffAvery said:
Well, it's moot now, until I get motivated to try again anyway. It warped in the quench and cracked when I tried to bring it back a bit while heat treating :/ I pasted a pic so you could see what I wanted to do with the brass pins.
knife3.jpg
Click to expand...
Did you try to fix wrap in first tempering ?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Natlek said:
Did you try to fix wrap in first tempering?
Click to expand...
It was shortly after the quench from heat treating. It was about room temperature, and I tried to use a couple of washers at each end and clamp it to take the bow out of the center. I didn't think I had it clamped too tight, but I heard it pop and that's all she wrote.
 
JeffAvery said:
It was shortly after the quench from heat treating. It was about room temperature, and I tried to use a couple of washers at each end and clamp it to take the bow out of the center. I didn't think I had it clamped too tight, but I heard it pop and that's all she wrote.
Click to expand...
That was mistake .After quench when steel get to room temperature it is fragile like glass .Next time clamp blade between two thick pieces of Al or steel before it cool under 450-500 F .Other way is to try to fix wrap after first tempering , never try to straighten blade in first tempering .
And don t drill holes like that again , you almost CUT in half steel there :)
And insert that brass pins after tempering .
 
Natlek said:
That was mistake .After quench when steel get to room temperature it is fragile like glass .Next time clamp blade between two thick pieces of Al or steel before it cool under 450-500 F .Other way is to try to fix wrap after first tempering , never try to straighten blade in first tempering .
And don t drill holes like that again , you almost CUT in half steel there :)
And insert that brass pins after tempering .
Click to expand...
yeah, learning as I go for sure :) Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.
 
Natlek said:
That was mistake .After quench when steel get to room temperature it is fragile like glass .Next time clamp blade between two thick pieces of Al or steel before it cool under 450-500 F .Other way is to try to fix wrap after first tempering , never try to straighten blade in first tempering .
And don t drill holes like that again , you almost CUT in half steel there :)
And insert that brass pins after tempering .
Click to expand...
I just have a hard time guessing whether its gone under that 450 temperature range, or whether or not I have time to clamp it still. Ive definitely lost a blade or two thinking it was still warm enough and clamping it then opening the vise to find it cracked.
 
The trick is to get clamped as soon as it's out of the quench, while it's still HOT. Not just barely reddish, but when it's fully showing no color you'll be cool enough to pull from quench, then get it clamped between wood ASAP (not metal since metal will suck heat too quickly). Isn't the martensite transformation pretty well complete around 900°F? Well, there is still austenite around, but seems like the steel can be removed from quench with no negative effects around 900°F or so.

Maybe Larrin, Hoss, Stacy, or other knowledgeable folks will chime in on this.
 
Last edited:
Ken H> said:
The trick is to get clamped as soon as it's out of the quench, while it's still HOT. Not just barely reddish, but when it's fully showing no color you'll be cool enough to pull from quench, then get it clamped ASAP. Isn't the martensite transformation pretty well complete around 900°F? Well, there is still austenite around, but seems like the steel can be removed from quench with no negative effects around 900°F or so.

Maybe Larrin, Hoss, Stacy, or other knowledgeable folks will chime in on this.
Click to expand...
No , 1095 martensite start temperature (Ms) is 410°F (210°C)
 
Duplicate mention of Natlek post's info redundant. :) Carry on!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top