best point holding steel

J

Jared Stenoien

Joined
Dec 4, 2005
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recommendations? and i know this probably has a lot to do with the ht so if you could tell me the best for it? and the reason i ask is b/c i want to make a knife with a drop down needle point for cutting strips of stuff but i dont want the point breaking off(obviously) any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
Drop down needle point ? Do you mean a Wharncliffe blade ? Whatever steel you pick care must me taken as it is very easy to overheat a tip [especially a wharncliffe] in heat treating and easy to burn the tip when grinding. A properly made knife will not break except if abused .
 
here's a VERY rough sketch, sorry i'm not very good at drawing so like i said it's really rough
scan.jpg


and (unfortunately?) i dont have a grinder so i dont think i'll have to worry about over heating unless i somehow use too much elbow grease with my files :D
 
I would rethink this design. One of the best strip cutting blades is a utility knife blade. It would be very hard to sharpen the blade in your drawing. If you are using hand tools to make your blade make the shape as straight forward as possible. Good luck, Fred
 
I believe it's called a hawkbill design and has been done a lot...and on many different types of knives as well.

Fred's right, though...you need to revisit how pointy the tip is...usually you just drop the tip a little...enough to clear the material depth you plan on cutting.

The problem is that typically you want the tip on a knife like this to be a little flexible...to avoid breaking the tip (which is very easy to do).

If it were me, I'd use 5160 - has some flexibility to it - and would harden it to around 56-57. (can't remember what temp to use)

You could also use 1050...but I think 5160 would be better.

JMHO, YMMV...
 
i was kinda hoping 5160 would be ok, i have a chunk that i could use left over from cutting out my machete, and i was planning on using dowel rods with sand paper to sharpen it. but yeah i guess i probably should reduce it a little
 
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