5160 Basics

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Brennus

Joined
Oct 11, 2004
Messages
7
Hello all,
Im new here officially although Ive been reading the forum for a while. Im making my first knife out of a leaf spring. Ive been reading the threads and have found lots of conflicting info as to how I should do this. I dont want to do any true forging yet just stock removal. Ive got a forge and tools respectively. I just need to know the process for tempering, annealing and so on. At which point in the process do I do most of my grinding and so on.
Any help would be great. Either way thanks for your patience and info.
Brennus
 
Just profile the blade,then grind the bevels in about half the grind you want to finish with maybe a little more.Just don't get it to thin before quenching.Now just do your quench in the style you are wanting to do and temper.Then finish grinding the rest of the blade and then start habd rubbing the finish...
Hope this helps,
Bruce
 
Cut off your piece of spring and clean it up a bit.Anneal it by heating to just below non-magnetic (1500) .Immediatly stick it in a bucket of vermiculite overnite.Shape and grind as Bruce said.Before HT normalize it by heating to non-mag (1600) and letting it cool on a fire brick for 5 minuites.Do this two or three times to relieve the stress from grinding and thus avoiding warpage,as well as to refine the grain.HT in oil and after HT put in an oven at 400 for 2 hours.Cool off and finish the blade,being careful not to overheat it while sanding.Dip it in a bucket of water OFTEN.Be sure to drill all holes before HT.
 
Awesome guys thanks for the prompt reply. What kind of oil do you reccomend, and do you think I'll be able to get the bend out of it once its annealed? Thank you all immensely, Im gonna try it out tomorrow I think.
 
Once annealel you can bend,pound,grind,- whatever.A good quench oil is olive oil.You can get it in five gallon cans at the price club type places,or a food wholesaler.ATF works fine,too.Canola oil is another good one.Of course,if you are going to do it regularly,get a can of medium quench oil from a supplier of knife supplies.
 
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