Couple questions for the guys that make the blades...

K

krept

Joined
Jan 14, 2002
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To the guys who make the knives... Mick, Duane, anyone else I have a couple questions.

I read that the tiger stripe pattern is essentially scale that is beadblasted off in certain areas. I spoke to Paul Bos the other day and he said that his normal heat treat uses argon that that there is very little, if any scale and warpage is virtually zero. Is the scale deliberately placed there (special heat treat) or maybe a product of the cryo?

Secondly, after the heat treat, how much grinding is left to do besides the primary edge?

Finally, is anyone representing Strider at the Crossroads of the West show coming up in Phoenix? I've seen a Strider table with 10+ blades there before and will be paying much more attention this time around.

If anyone else has an idea, I'd appreciate the info as I've been wondering about this for a while.


Cheers,
Erik
 
Okay…
In the actual Heat Treat, the knives sit in an argon atmosphere and come out looking just like they did when they went in. It is during the tempering that they turn black. It is not scale, though that is what it is called. It is really oxidation. Think of it as a black oxide treatment. It is nearly the same. A lot depends on the material being used as well. S30V comes out kind of blue. BG and ATS come out blackish red. Warpage depends on a lot of things, foremost being the way you grind your knives. Paul has been doing this for longer than I have been living. He has it down.

We grind our knives complete before taking them to Paul.

Note. Paul hand straitens every blade that leaves his shop.

Did I miss anything?

Mick
 
Hey Mick, you said a primary cause of warpage was how you grind. Could you elaborate a bit on this?

Hugh
 
Thanks Mick.

When I talked to Paul he said to grind slow and take a little off each side, as opposed to (an extreme example) grinding the entire primary bevel on one side then grinding the other side. I think it follows that grinding a little off each side will cause you to have a more even shape at the end and the more uneven the grinds are, the greater chance to warp during the treat.

I could be wrong, I literally did my first grind ever just a month ago or so.

Anyone know if a Strider booth is planned for the upcoming Crossroads show July 6/7?

Erik
 
Im not sure about he show. We wont be there, but a dealer may be.

I have ALWAYS ground one side first. And have never had a lot of warpage. One thing is symmetry. If the knife is not symmetrical, it will warp. This includes one-sided knives. The other issue is amount of material removed. I have a lot more warpage on long full bevel ground pieces than shorter hollow ground ones.
A huge issue is, how you grind your material to thickness. If you surface grid one side more than the other, it will warp.

Okay.. gotta run

m
 
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