Beckerhead Knife Making and Modification Thread

I've got a carbide end mill, but I'm afraid I'll ruin it. I'd rather wait until tomorrow if something else might work.
 
Thanks!
So what type of drill (or end mill) might one use on 1095CV to open up the bolt holes? I'm trying to get them to ¼" but feel like it might take until tomorrow if I apply gentle pressure for the rest of the night.

I'd learn to get happy with the size they are!
Drilling hardened steel... nah.
 
Im using some of these: Bosch CO18 18-Piece Cobalt Twist Drill Bit Assortment......And some tap magic.

It was easy, these were already 1/4" so i started the next size up which was 5/16" then ended with a 3/8" bit. I did use light pressure taking it in a little ways then out, back in a little ways further then back out... Ill leave the joke out this time LMAO

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You can also kind of see i have been practicing an etch finish with Ferric chloride.
 
I'd learn to get happy with the size they are!
Drilling hardened steel... nah.

Why not?

That was 1/4" thick hardened 5160 and i had no problems. It only took a few minutes and the handle never even got warm to the touch...

Is there a reason you shouldnt drill hardened steel?

Not that i care about damaging this knife above LOL, its my experiment blade anyways :D
 
BOOOOOO, Daizee! You are not telling me what I want to hear, so I'm not listening! Plus, I gotta try first before I realize the futility of it and realize you were (probably) right all along.
YAAAAYYY, WW! ......but perhaps the handle on that (OKC?) is not so hard as the BK-7 handle....I drilled out my 11 handle....but all I have in ¼" bits is HSS, which is not cutting it (;))....I'm pretty sure I used a TiNi bit for that with some cutting oil. I ain't risking the carbide end mill....too brittle. Scales will wait until tomorrow, then. Ah, well. Gotta pack up some ePrey sales (YAY! Knifemaking materials!!!) and hit the rack. Thanks for the input, both of you.
 
YAAAAYYY, WW! ......but perhaps the handle on that (OKC?) is not so hard as the BK-7 handle....I drilled out my 11 handle....but all I have in ¼" bits is HSS, which is not cutting it (;))....I'm pretty sure I used a TiNi bit for that with some cutting oil. I ain't risking the carbide end mill....too brittle. Scales will wait until tomorrow, then. Ah, well. Gotta pack up some ePrey sales (YAY! Knifemaking materials!!!) and hit the rack. Thanks for the input, both of you.

Its possible the BK7 is harder, but the RD4 is thicker. I dont think these bits would have issues with the BK7. But i dont have a Becker i wanna experiment with to find out LOL. These bits have worked for everything i needed so far though. Id give some Cobalt bits a try!!

Night Mike!!
 
I think 5160 is shallow-hardening. I bet the handle isn't nearly as hard as the blade.
Hardened steel is hard (haha) on bits and dangers when things catch. Ruin your bits too.

I suppose the Becker handles are a bit softer too... so much work.
 
I think 5160 is shallow-hardening. I bet the handle isn't nearly as hard as the blade.
Hardened steel is hard (haha) on bits and dangers when things catch. Ruin your bits too.

I suppose the Becker handles are a bit softer too... so much work.

They dont HT the entire knife the same?

I read 5160 is deep hardening and 10XX steels are shallow hardening on sword forum a while back.. Maybe they were incorrect though.

And i would rather ruin that knife than my bits LMAO!!! It was a fun and easy experiment but i wont go drilling lots more holes in hardened steel :D
 
OK, that's what I was wundrin'! Danish oil is a finish....sounds like a good plan.

Well yeah... it's one of my very favorite finishes for natural woods like maple or walnut. By "finish" I mean, "OK this thing is finished now, we can trust it to be used out in the real world and not rot or fall apart or soak up nasty stuff like blood and guts too much". The reason for that is it soaks in pretty good and forms a reasonably tough seal when cured properly.

On a properly stabilized or laminated material, it's not really a true "finish" at all; it mostly just sits on the surface like furniture polish or clear poly and helps it look pretty (not that there's anything necessarily wrong with that).

In other news... more Becker content. I was recently given a BK11 (thanks Ethan and KA-BAR! :) ) and of course, I modded it some. This is such a well-designed blade that it only took moments to tweak it... all I did was clean up the factory edge and knock the powder-coat off the spine and polish it up so I have crisper corners with which to scrape sparks off a ferro-rod.

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The black cordage shown in that pic comes with the knife/sheath, and there's plenty of it. I very strongly recommend not tying it in a knot if you hang this knife around your neck... simply heat up both ends with a lighter or candle, mush them together, and let it cool off. That way if something really awful happens, you won't get strangled, the melted "joint" will break.
 
OK, first topic: How would you suggest finishing homemade canvas "my"carta? I've successfully made some (I think) but I'm concerned that the cotton will bleed color onto my hands, as it's showing a little proclivity to do so already.

I also don't want the purple dye to bleed into the orange cloth. Like I said, it's cotton duck canvas made with 3M fiberglass resin. Anyone got some ideas?

I once read somewhere here on BF in one of the other sub-fora about using CA. Rub a thin coat in, let dry, sand, repeat until you reach the level of smooth and shiny that you want. Dries clear so not visual color changes to the material, waterproofs it,fixes supper, and all that noise.

One note - haven't tried it yet so I am NOT speaking with the voice of experience.
 
That was 1/4" thick hardened 5160 and i had no problems. It only took a few minutes and the handle never even got warm to the touch...

I'll bet you a brand-new Growl, that 5160 tang wasn't nearly as "hardened" as you thunk it was (my quick guess is, the blade was hardened but the tang was never quenched, leaving it in a state of semi-soft pearlite at best.) This HT technique is centuries old, and consists of bringing the blade up to hardening temperatures, and dipping it in the quenchant while keeping the tang in the open air. The idea is to get a hard blade and a soft tang that will bend rather than break. At one time, that was state-of-the-art HT.

Yes, it's my understanding that many Ka-Bars/Beckers are partially-quenched in a similar manner - an approach which causes me a fair amount of consternation, and which I feel is partly responsible for the occasional reports of tangs snapping off under duress. When a strong zone meets a weaker zone abruptly, there's a problem. When someone bashes on that transition point... there's an even bigger problem.

You try drilling any moderate-to-high carbon steel at about 50Rc or above with a standard twist bit, and trust me son... very soon you won't have to ask why you shouldn't do it ;)

(the actual reason is, you'll burn up the drill before you make much of a dent in the steel, and you'll never get through it. At best you'll make a lot of horrible noise and stink up your shop, and at worst you'll work-harden the piece you're trying to drill, break stuff, and get chunks of I-told-ya-so in your face.)

Machining hardened steel is a job for specialized carbide tools, and using specialized carbide tools is a job for trained machinists.
 
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I think 5160 is shallow-hardening.

I read 5160 is deep hardening and 10XX steels are shallow hardening on sword forum a while back...

All low-allow "carbon" steels are essentially shallow-hardening and require a pretty intense/fast quenching process. That shallow-hardening property is why/how mastersmiths can achieve those beautiful hamons and temper lines on simple steels. You'll notice, those cats sincerely hate chrome and manganese...

It's also precisely why alloying elements like manganese, chromium, nickel and molybdenum (and later, vanadium) made such a huge impact on the steel and tool industries when folks discovered how to blend them into steel in the late 19th/early 20th century... they figured out that very small amounts of those "extra" elements made it a whole lot easier to get much more consistent HT results. Better steel and better HT means tools that last longer and do more work, it's that simple.

It's not a coincidence that the industrial revolution really took off about the same time these alloying elements began to be understood and utilized... water-power and the steam engine had been around for decades, but (among other factors) they also needed serious long-lasting tools and parts to make more steam engines and whatnot. They needed better steel.

Anyway, that's how we got stuff like O1 and 1095CV, which we all know and love to this day. It's like pasta... who doesn't like pasta? But plain pasta (iron and carbon) with a little salt and pepper and olive oil (other alloying elements like Ch, Mn, Mb, V etc) is soooo much nicer... ;)
 
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:thumbup: Yea man, i KNOW now the tang is definitely softer.

After posting the question above if the entire knife is HT the same i went and tried to drill through the blade... Because im smart like that. LMAO... I used the largest bit i have because i wont need it as often in case of ruining it, and i did take some safety measure just in case and went slow and didnt use much force. But i used a little more force than i had to with the tang and still only put a dimple in the blade.

It didnt make a lot of noise, stink up the shop, or even feel hot to the touch though... But im guessing the cutting oil helps in some of those regards. And im sure if i tried to force it things would of been worse.

On a unrelated kind of related note, I keep a c-clamp on my drill press as seen in the pic above, this is to stop stuff in case they start spinning. This has proved useful a few times already when drilling something NOT clamped down. Dan told me about this tip, and im glad he did so im sharing it as well in case it can prove useful to someone else.
 
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Well, keep trying.

:D

Umm..... Ill take your word for it LOL

It didnt take long to realize the blade was much harder than the tang LOL

Do you know if PHT heat treats this same way? where the handle is softer than the blade?
 
Do you know if PHT heat treats this same way? where the handle is softer than the blade?

No they don't, they HT/quench/temper all my blades the same way all the way through. Call Brad and ask, if you want it done some other way. He will probably talk you out of it, and explain why a lot better than I can ;)
 
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No they don't, they HT/quench/temper all my blades the same way all the way through. Call Brad and ask, if you want it done some other way. He will probably talk you out of it, and explain why a lot better than I can ;)

Id WANT them done the same way all the way through so thats good :D
 
GSOM, give Tru-Oil gunstock finish a shot on your Micarta. It really brings out the color and has a nice tactile feel.
 
I'm with Daizee. Drilling hardened steel is no fun at all. I want carbide bits if I'm gonna try it at all, and be prepared to break your drill press if you hog it too hard. I need to fix my mill already, although I think just new brushes for the motor will do.
 
Picked up some cobalt bits this morning and I'll give it another go this evening. I'm just trying to open up the holes that are already there, which I did manage to do on my 11. If it really seems futile I'll stop. The HSS bit actually started ok, but just couldn't keep going.

Thanks for the TruOil finish tip, trade. May check that one out.
 
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