- Joined
- Dec 21, 2006
- Messages
- 3,158
This is the FIRST stainless steel knife from my shop that was heat treated personally!!! Recently I purchased a Paragon heat treat oven, so be on the look out for high alloy steels from me in the future! I'm excited to post this knife! There is nothing like a heat treatment done one knife at a time. There is so much control over each process. So a little about the knife first, and then I'll discuss the heat treatment for those who might be interested in what I did.
The overall design is similar to the Spyderco K series kitchen knives. The handle is sculpted with very comfortable finger indexes at the front, and a simple bird's beak shape at the rear. The finger molds are slightly biased for right hand use, but I used in my left hand and it feels just as good either way (shown in the 3rd photo). The wood is purple heart and oiled and waxed for protection and a nice subtle shine. The blade is nice and thin, with a full flat grind, and given a hand rubbed finish to 800 grit. Hidden tang.
The heat treatment is straightforward. After making sure the oven soaked at 1950°F for a half hour, the anti scale coated blade was inserted and soaked for 30 minutes after the temperature had rebounded. The blade was then removed and quenched in medium speed oil until ambient temperature and then soaked for 4 hours in a sub zero (-100°F) bath for maximum martensite formation. Then tempered at 350°F for 2 hours, then back into the sub zero bath for a few hours, then tempered another 2 times, 2 hours each. Final hardness is 63-64HRC. The blade showed very tight and visually attractive carbide banding during grinding, but is invisible now due to the blade polish.
The knife is extremely light and fun to hold. I gave it a few test rounds in the kitchen dicing up the usual suspects just to test it a bit, and everything seems good. If you'd like to own my first ever personally heat treated stainless knife, this is the one! More coming!
Asking price is SOLD A great deal for such a knife, I think! This includes free shipping anywhere in the USA, and a felt lined plastic edge protector. Life time completely unlimited warranty. Paypal preferred (samuraistuart@yahoo.com). Thanks for looking! Follow me on Instagram: stuartalandavenport
The overall design is similar to the Spyderco K series kitchen knives. The handle is sculpted with very comfortable finger indexes at the front, and a simple bird's beak shape at the rear. The finger molds are slightly biased for right hand use, but I used in my left hand and it feels just as good either way (shown in the 3rd photo). The wood is purple heart and oiled and waxed for protection and a nice subtle shine. The blade is nice and thin, with a full flat grind, and given a hand rubbed finish to 800 grit. Hidden tang.
The heat treatment is straightforward. After making sure the oven soaked at 1950°F for a half hour, the anti scale coated blade was inserted and soaked for 30 minutes after the temperature had rebounded. The blade was then removed and quenched in medium speed oil until ambient temperature and then soaked for 4 hours in a sub zero (-100°F) bath for maximum martensite formation. Then tempered at 350°F for 2 hours, then back into the sub zero bath for a few hours, then tempered another 2 times, 2 hours each. Final hardness is 63-64HRC. The blade showed very tight and visually attractive carbide banding during grinding, but is invisible now due to the blade polish.
The knife is extremely light and fun to hold. I gave it a few test rounds in the kitchen dicing up the usual suspects just to test it a bit, and everything seems good. If you'd like to own my first ever personally heat treated stainless knife, this is the one! More coming!
OAL: 9"
Blade: 4.5"
Handle: 4.5"
Thickness: 0.063", taper to tip
Steel: Hitachi ATS-34 (same steel as 154CM)
Hardness: 63-64HRC
Edge: 15° per side, 6 micron
Blade: 4.5"
Handle: 4.5"
Thickness: 0.063", taper to tip
Steel: Hitachi ATS-34 (same steel as 154CM)
Hardness: 63-64HRC
Edge: 15° per side, 6 micron
Asking price is SOLD A great deal for such a knife, I think! This includes free shipping anywhere in the USA, and a felt lined plastic edge protector. Life time completely unlimited warranty. Paypal preferred (samuraistuart@yahoo.com). Thanks for looking! Follow me on Instagram: stuartalandavenport
Last edited:
