Clay tempered blades..

[GARY B]

Hi everyone. Ever wonder why clay tempered blades are more expensive thanregular ground and heat treated stainless? Below is a picture of part of the reason. This knife was sold and ready to make the sheath and ship, when I saw what looked like an eyelash laying on the spine of the blade about 1/4" in front of the temper line.

It may not show too well in the picture , but you can probably guess. I never spotted this crack through the whole procedure of hand polishing. I didn't see it while I was cord wrapping over fairly expensive rayskin. Only after all the work was done and final cleanup revealed this tiny crack.

Now instead of a nice knife on its way to the expectant owner, it is trash in my scrap barrell. This happens to about one out of four of mine so far. That is a lot of time and effort lost. But it is still worth it for the rush when the others come out right.

<img src=http://members.aol.com/steeldust5/cracked2.jpg>

<img src=http://members.aol.com/steeldust5/cracked3.jpg>

Thanks for looking and letting me vent.

 

[Danbo]

Damn the luck. That is one sweet looking knife too.

 

[richard rosvall]

Sorry to hear this, Gary. Beautiful knife, you sure are getting great-looking temper lines on those blades!

 

[Andrew McLurkin]

I hate to see it.

I bet it will make a real good shop knife. That or do some destructive testing to find out more about your blades.

 

[GARY B]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the kind words and sympathy etc. I think Andrew is right though. It will make a good test knife. I want to see how it holds up before the crack gives way and see the grain structure when it does. I think water quenching 1084 steel is pretty tricky business. I am going back to 1060 until I get this thing figured out. Hopefully that will before I'm too old to hang on to a pair of tongs any more

Better get to it. nite all.

 

[Keith Montgomery]

That's just to darn nice a knife to end up in the trash bin. What a shame. That is a great temper line you got there.

 

[Danbo]

Doesnt Parks Metalurgical make a quenching oil that is very close to water in speed, but not so stressful to the steel?

 

[GARY B]

THANKS KWM, I appreciate it. I smacked it good on the anvil and broke the point off. Stuck it up on the magnet bar and will use it to cut para-cord etc in the shop.

Danbo, thanks for the info. I'll contact you privately for info on that outfit. Don't want to encroach too much on the Shop Talk Q&A forum here. We might bring up the subject over there though. Thanks again.