Cold Steel SRK blade blanks

orca8589

orca8589

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Jan 27, 2007
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I have six un-ground blade blanks for the old Carbon V SRK; any ideas on how I can tell if they're heat treated? I traded for them a while back, along with stacked leather washer kits from Kabar for making the handles. The SRK blanks don't have any discoloration (like they've been in an oven), just flat black/grey. I have other blade blanks for other Camillus-made knives that were heat-treated, and have no discoloration either. I can post pics later if that might help.

~Chris
 
Try filing them. If the file scrapes at all then its most likely hardened. However i doudt that unground blanks would be hardened
 
Some points to help:

All blades were hardened before grinding.

Carbon V blades were hardened by submersion in molten lead; the tangs were not hardened, so do all file testing for hardness on blade edge region.

Tumbling/double-disc grinding/sand blasting may have been used after heat treat & before grinding; in some cases blades were stress-relieved/annealed after laser cutting; they would look blueish and heat treated, but they are not yet hardened.

Color of unground blade blanks may not be a reliable indication of heat treat status!
 
I tried filing the edge region, and it appears these blanks are not hardened. The file digs in one the edge region just like it does on the tang.

These blanks have had the COLD STEEL and SRK and CARBON V stamps ground off, but they're not hardened.

Phil - any advice on how to get these heat treated & hardened?

Thanks for the info, guys. Much appreciated.

~Chris
 
orca8589 said:
I tried filing the edge region, and it appears these blanks are not hardened. The file digs in one the edge region just like it does on the tang.

These blanks have had the COLD STEEL and SRK and CARBON V stamps ground off, but they're not hardened.

Phil - any advice on how to get these heat treated & hardened?

Thanks for the info, guys. Much appreciated.

~Chris
Click to expand...

Carbon V, if I remember correctly, is similar to 1095.

Peters Heat treat popped to mind. I have seen them mentioned on here a time or two as being reasonable, but that is not from personal experience.
 
Finding a generic heat treater to process it similar to 1095 will get it hardened. Temper it back to 58-59 Rc.
Sadly it will be missing the "Maragni Magic". :(
 
Phil Gibbs said:
Finding a generic heat treater to process it similar to 1095 will get it hardened. Temper it back to 58-59 Rc.
Sadly it will be missing the "Maragni Magic". :(
Click to expand...

Yup. I've got one of the old Camillus BK-7's, from Cheaper Than Dirt back in '06. Got it for $40. :eek: If I can get these old Cold Steel SRK blanks heat treated to perform even close to the steel in that old BK7, they'll be stellar knives. Carbon V's heat treat was amazing.

A.G.'s write-up on the new "DM-1" (for the Sandbox Bowie) in one of his latest catalogs was pretty interesting. ;)

I'll pursue this project with these blanks and keep everyone posted.

~Chris
 
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