8670 Mesquite Hunter!!!

samuraistuart

samuraistuart

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Chuck at Alpha Knife Supply was super kind, as always, and sent me a sample of the 8670 steel they have in stock, so I thought a hunting knife would be in order! 8670 is an alloy steel, much like 5160, but with more carbon for better hardness, a little less Chromium, but added Moly and Nickel. This combination of alloying elements makes for a very very tough steel, and as such is able to handle low edge angles at high hardness very well. Mesquite has an "old school" classy look to me, love the way it looks on a knife. The handle is slightly long, to allow room for a gloved hand if needed, but not too long.

Not only was this my first dance with 8670, this is the very first knife off of the new TW-90 grinder!!!!! WOW, what time and energy savings the grinder offers over a hand file!!! I am having too much fun right now.

For those interested in the heat treat parameters, a triple quench was done. 10 minute soak at 1525°F, and quenched in 90°F P50. Then again for 7 minutes, then again for 5 minutes. Triple tempered at 360°F.

This knife blade will have an extremely fine grain structure, and sharpening was a surprise. I was amazed at how hard the steel was for this alloy, guessing final hardness to be about 63-64HRC.

For those interested in the sharpening session, angle is ~27° inclusive, bevel established on coarse India, then fine India. Followed by Suehiro Chemical 320, Norton 1000, Chinese 12k natural. Scary scary sharp! Big jump from 1k to 12k on purpose.

OAL: 9"
Handle: 5"
Blade: 4"
Thickness at ricasso: 0.093"
Taper begins 1.5" from tip
Edge: .012" ~26°-28° total angle
Mesquite scales, Black G10 liners, brass pins

8670%20Left%20Side_zpsveba2ob7.jpg


8670%20Right%20Side_zps7acfxqkd.jpg

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Plunge line does go up further than what you can see in the 2 photos, it just barely kisses the spine.

Knife will come with kydex sheath that has chicago screws for easy tear down and clean up, as well as a metal belt/boot clip. Also includes free shipping anywhere in the USA!!! Can't beat that with a stick!!! (Please don't beat that with a stick! It may hold up, but that's not what it was designed for!) Asking price is only $179!!!! Thank you so much for your interest, it is YOU who makes this possible for me!!!

First person with the "I want it!".....gets it!!!!

Stuart Davenport Knives
San Antonio, TX
now on Instagram!!! stuartalandavenport
 
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That's a good looking knife but the wood brought a flood of memories. We called them horse apple,bodark,and bois d'arct. The fruit grows to be 3'' to 6''in diameter and are very hard Just the thing for a bunch of retarded farm kids to enjoin into horse apple wars. I have seen softer rocks!The one with the least bruises won. If you can call being beaten nearly to death winning. And in fall ,after frost and they softened the possoms come out in droves.and will fight each other for the fruit. Good memories.
Thanks,
Hondo
 
blademan11 said:
That's a good looking knife but the wood brought a flood of memories. We called them horse apple,bodark,and bois d'arct. The fruit grows to be 3'' to 6''in diameter and are very hard Just the thing for a bunch of retarded farm kids to enjoin into horse apple wars. I have seen softer rocks!The one with the least bruises won. If you can call being beaten nearly to death winning. And in fall ,after frost and they softened the possoms come out in droves.and will fight each other for the fruit. Good memories.
Thanks,
Hondo
Click to expand...

That's a fine looking knife sir! With all due respect Bodark and Mesquite are not the same. Two completely different species in fact. Mesquite aka proposis spp is native to the south western US and central Mexico.
Bodark aka malcura pomifera is a tree you will find here in parts of Texas.... "The trees acquired the name bois d'arc, or "bow-wood", from early French settlers who observed the wood being used for war clubs and bow-making by Native Americans." Wikipedia


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Thank you Winger51!

I've never even heard of horse apple/bodark, but as Varga mentioned, it certainly isn't mesquite. Mesquite has no fruit anyway....well...it has bean pods. It has thorns, and an uncanny ability to grow everywhere, and resistant to being murdered!!! Diesel. It works, for a while.

What's sort of interesting about your post, Hondo, the wood came from Hondo, TX!!!! If anyone wants some mesquite wood, they are MORE than welcome to come over to our place and chop down trees to your heart's content. ha!

One note about the sharpening......setting the bevel with a coarse India took quite a while. I don't do scrubbing, which would be much faster, but rather I alternate sides every stroke, from my coarsest stone all the way through the final polish stone. That way I can creep up on the burr, and minimize it's formation. Cliff Stamp has a technique called "plateau sharpening", which minimizes burr formation as well, but IIRC, you put a microbevel on the "plateau". I prefer to not use MBs. Just a preference.
 
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Lots of knife for the money, with such a nice handle, and all the care you put into the heat treatment and sharpening.
 
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