Beckerhead Knife Making and Modification Thread

[daizee]

I love Osage orange (AKA hedge tree and Bois d'Arc). The patina it develops and the variegation in the grain is gorgeous in my mind.

I'd never handled it before - the color is luminous with some BLO.
Great for tool handles! My stump is about 12" tall, so I can get about 11" out of it.

 

[daizee]

Whipped this American Leuku pattern out last night as a first test-piece in ProCut.
Hardening continued after quench (stuck it in the freezer, but not dry ice) and it came out 64Rc.
61.5-62Rc after 2x tempers @450F. Wowsa.

 

[1066vik]

that's pretty sexy.

 

[daizee]

that's pretty sexy.

Thanks, it's gonna get an axe handle haft like the others. The question is... am I gonna buy one as I have before (easy way out is appealing and effective, but depends on good handles being available locally) OR am I going to try to shape one out of the Osage...

 

[1066vik]

osage shapes pretty easy with a belt sander or even a 4 in one rasp.
how are you cutting the pocket for the hidden tang?

 

[daizee]

osage shapes pretty easy with a belt sander or even a 4 in one rasp.
how are you cutting the pocket for the hidden tang?

The tooling won't be an issue, it's my ability to sculpt that very 3D axe pommel that's gonna be the challenge.

For the tang, I will drill an oversize round hole, then use a hand-broach to cut keyways for the tang height. Then the bolster (and any spacers) are close-fit to the ricasso and cover the hole. The whole business will be epoxied together with a cross pin.

 

[1066vik]

I wondered.
I've done it that way and I've also filled the round hole with a split dowel glued in place with tite bond 2.

 

[Dagoth_Blur]

Whipped this American Leuku pattern out last night as a first test-piece in ProCut.
Hardening continued after quench (stuck it in the freezer, but not dry ice) and it came out 64Rc.
61.5-62Rc after 2x tempers @450F. Wowsa.

What is the max temp you need to reach when heat treating with this steel?

 

[1066vik]

you can get a good temper from a 1375-1650 quench with a pair of 450 temper cycles.
at 1625-1650 for the quench shows a big jump in toughness.

Pop's ProCut - A New Carbon Steel for Knives - Knife Steel Nerds

The new Pop's ProCut combines high toughness from nickel, good edge retention from tungsten/vanadium, and is easy for knifemakers to use.

knifesteelnerds.com

 

[daizee]

What is the max temp you need to reach when heat treating with this steel?

you can get a good temper from a 1375-1650 quench with a pair of 450 temper cycles.
at 1625-1650 for the quench shows a big jump in toughness.

Pop's ProCut - A New Carbon Steel for Knives - Knife Steel Nerds

The new Pop's ProCut combines high toughness from nickel, good edge retention from tungsten/vanadium, and is easy for knifemakers to use.

knifesteelnerds.com

Yeah, a nice forgiving range for doing it by eye, or you can go precise.
Speaking of which, Solar is being installed on my shop's roof today. My landlord moved my kiln to give them access to the electrical panel, not realizing that it's the most fragile thing in there, and worth a year's rent. Hopefully it's fine, he was gentle.