Best Combat Handle Material

V

VanDro

Joined
Mar 20, 2008
Messages
93
After I rip the finish off of a CS Recon Tanto in Carbon V, mirror polish the blade, and temper the edge , what would be the best handle material?

I am thinking micarta, but which type I do not know? And of course I will be replacing the Kryton finger guard with a stainless steel one.
 
I want to have a heat treatment done to my blade to increase the hardness along the edge.

You know, apply a clay, maybe satanite, from the spine to the blade in a thinning layer, progressively heat the blade in an oven, and then quench the blade in water. The clay layer slows the heating of the body of the blade while the unexposed edge hardens.

Look up the technique. Koster uses the Japanese technique on his kitchen knives after they are ground to form a quench line for aesthetic and practical purposes. David Boye outlines a simpler process in Step-by-Step Knifemaking with oil. It adds character.
 
The knife came to you with a heat treat; that means it was already tempered. Its generally bad form to mess with that, because you don't know how it was treated previously. Do as you will though, let us know how it works out.
 
An oven heats too slowly, and the clay (and metal underneath) will get just as hot as the edge. Carbon V is basically O-1 steel. I would think that it is properly tempered from the factory, and I doubt you could do it better.
Bill
 
Just to add to the general brouhaha: you need to be specific about "oven"... if you're going to do the heat treating from scratch, you need an oven that can go up to something around 1500 degrees F, which your kitchen oven falls way short of.
 
The only way you're going to retemper that is to anneal it, re-heattreat it, then retemper. Lots of work. Granted, O-1 can get a lot harder than CS runs it, but why?
 
You will ruin the heat treat by messing around with it. A ruined knife is not worth putting a handle on.

It is not O1.

If it is carbon V, then it is 0170-6C.
 
I just heard of the process from a friend, and yeah the oven I was going to use would get that high, but I was thinking to do it for the blade detail to give it a distinctive look. It would be a lot of work so I might drop the idea. CS does their Carbon V to around 65 like their SK-5 right?

There was another thing that I heard about, some sort of chemical dip that would produce a kind of oxydation or discoloration on the part of the blade that was heat treated. People use it on HI Khukuris. Anyone know what it is called?

Either way I want to blue the blade to prevent corrosion, whether that is with quench line or not is up in the air. Constant oiling is a hassle to me. I just want to set it and forget it once I shell out as much money as I will be most likely. Need to send it to someone for a convex edge as well.

I have actually heard that they have a compromise in their steel. Kind of an industry secret, nothing that is really excellent, but a home-brewed steel that is like a mix of O-1, 5160, and 1095 in terms of traits.

OK, so back to the handle. Highly polished micarta brings out the color and grain lines in the handle, but does it still maintain a good grip or does it get to be like a hard plastic with all that finish? I am thinking a rectangular bolster but I would still not like the feeling of doom as my hand slides slowly forward to the razor sharp blade. Maybe a black ray or lizard skin inlay and on green polished linen micarta wrapped in resin cord.

I might as well get a Saji Takeshi if I did not like the tanto so much.
 
Bluing will not offer nearly as much corrosion protection as the finish that is on the blade now. Either will wear off with use. With bluing, you will need to oil frequently.
You can make a fake hamon line by etching the edge of the blade with ferric chloride. Just apply it with a Q tip.
Canvas micarta does not take a real high polish, and is the grippiest.
Bill
 
I seriously doubt CS hardens Carbon V to 65 Rc. That's extremely high, and off the top of my head I can't think of a single production knife company that hardens that high-except perhaps on sprint runs.
 
Personally I think G-10 offers a better grippy feel unless you are going to bead blast the micarta, and you don't have to buff G-10. I sand it to 400 grit wet sanding the last part. Turns out looking great and is more grippier to me. Scheffield's Knife supply sells the largest variety of G-10 that I know of.
 
Midwest Ninja said:
I seriously doubt CS hardens Carbon V to 65 Rc. That's extremely high, and off the top of my head I can't think of a single production knife company that hardens that high-except perhaps on sprint runs.
Click to expand...

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Sorry, I forgot about ZDP-189, and Spyderco in general. Like I said, "off the top of my head". I stand corrected.:o:D
 
Micarta or g-10, unless you can do pressure formed. Man, maybe its just me, but having played around with heat treating and differential heating treating via clay, and spray on refractory materials, I would humbly advise you to not chuck that blade in an oven. I shudder at the thought. One I made myself? You bet.
 
I also heard that rubbing salad dressing on the blade gives it a etch. You can make patterns and leave it for a few hours or so and then rinse and clean with bicarb and water to stop the process...
Play around with it and lets us knows yes :D
 
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