Borax stuck to blade?

[Nick EBK]

So this is my first attempt at a tanto (gotta do more of these), and during heat treat I coated the blade in borax, to try to prevent decarb/scale, mostly as an experiment. In that sense it worked well, and I got a nice hard blade. However, there was a glass like green/yellow substance, that I can only assume to be the borax, stuck to the steel. It didn't want to sand off, and I mostly had to chip it off. Did I do something wrong? Is there some trick to getting this off?

 

[Nick EBK]

On a side note, thank you to whoever suggested dipping the blade in sodium bisulfate solution. It's like magic.

 

[Brian.Evans]

What is the big bump on the handle?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Borax melts at 1350F, so the boron glass is normal.

Boron glass is water soluble to some degree, but pickle works better. I use sodium bi-sulfate.

The blade needs to be sanded down after HT coating or no coating. Take off at least .003" - .005" on all surfaces for the best results.

That knife looks a bit unwieldy, especially the handle.

 

[Nick EBK]

What is the big bump on the handle?

That knife looks a bit unwieldy, especially the handle.

I don't know where I was originally going with that... If I finish this knife, I'll be taking the bump off and shortening the handle.

Borax melts at 1350F, so the boron glass is normal.

Ok good. I hadn't seen that previously.

 

[Nick EBK]

I need to round out the front of the finger guard, but this is already much better.

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