Couple questions

C

Cauldra

Joined
Jan 31, 2008
Messages
130
I've worked, on and off, for the past week on shaping my first blade. I finished it on thursday and am ready for heat treating it, but have some things I want to clear up so that I don't break or ruin the blade. I have put alot of work into it, and I do not want to have to start over. The first question is do I shape the blade before or after the heat treat? I read on another forum that the blade should be left around the thickness of a nickel so that it won't crack, or break. Second, the steel is 1075/80. I was planning on using canola oil at 110F for the quench. Is this a good temp? The third and final question is more of an opinion question. I was thinking of using two pins to hold on the handle, but I also thought of using three. What do you guys think would look better? Here is a pic of the knife as it is right now. I've gotten this far by using mostly just a Dremel rotary tool.

http://s253.photobucket.com/albums/hh64/Cauldra/?action=view&current=P7110059.jpg
 
Cauldra said:
I've worked, on and off, for the past week on shaping my first blade. I finished it on thursday and am ready for heat treating it, but have some things I want to clear up so that I don't break or ruin the blade. I have put alot of work into it, and I do not want to have to start over. The first question is do I shape the blade before or after the heat treat? I read on another forum that the blade should be left around the thickness of a nickel so that it won't crack, or break. Second, the steel is 1075/80. I was planning on using canola oil at 110F for the quench. Is this a good temp? The third and final question is more of an opinion question. I was thinking of using two pins to hold on the handle, but I also thought of using three. What do you guys think would look better? Here is a pic of the knife as it is right now. I've gotten this far by using mostly just a Dremel rotary tool.

http://s253.photobucket.com/albums/hh64/Cauldra/?action=view&current=P7110059.jpg
Click to expand...

Can't answer all your questions, but I would imagine you want to grind or file in the bevels before heat treat otherwise (if filing by hand, it will be literally impossible after heat treat unless you use a belt grinder (which belts are much harder than files).

the pins is again really for looks. 3 would probably function better and hold on the scales than 2 pins, but again, two pins would be enough too. It's all up to your preference.
 
Yep, go ahead and do your bevels. Get down to 0.030" on the edge (or a little thinner than a dime), but no thinner. You won't be able to do them after heat treat with files. Canola oil is OK for this steel.
 
So I don't have to worry about the knife cracking or breaking if I grind it down to the size of a dime?
 
Not with that steel. A dime is .047 thick so that's more then enough. I take 1084 down to half that size before heat treatment and quench in parks #50. No problems with warps or cracks so far.
 
How are you going to heat your blade?
Getting that step under control comes BEFORE what quench oil/temp you use.
 
Cauldra
Please don't take this the wrong way but IMHO you are no where near ready for heat treat. You sould grind in the bevels. remove all mill scale, drill holes for handle pins,sand out all major scraches and then H/T. Your blade should look almost like a finished knife before H/T,because after, working hard steel is almost impossible with files.
Stan
 
SBuzek said:
Cauldra
Please don't take this the wrong way but IMHO you are no where near ready for heat treat. You sould grind in the bevels. remove all mill scale, drill holes for handle pins,sand out all major scraches and then H/T. Your blade should look almost like a finished knife before H/T,because after, working hard steel is almost impossible with files.
Stan
Click to expand...

Yeah. I know. I just had some questions before I went further with anything else. I didn't want to get ahead of myself and end up ruining all my hard work. Thanks for the concern though.:)
 
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