Willie71
Warren J. Krywko
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2013
- Messages
- 12,214
There are a number of hunters and outdoorsmen who have cabins in the same area we have ours, in a coal mining ghost town in Alberta, Canada. A couple years ago, our cabin needed the foundation redone, and when we dug around the building, I found an old grader blade that was under the weeds being used as an eves trough runoff. I did some spark and heat treat experiments, and figured it’s a hypereuctoid carbon steel. Modern grader blades are made out of 1085, but over 40 years ago, they used W1 or similar steel. In any event, I heat treated several coupons and found highest as quenched hardness was at 1470f. 1085 seems a likely candidate.
A cousin of my best friend in the area was admiring his knife, and asked me to make him one. I’ve done a few now, so I retraced the pattern, and told Kevin I would have it done in the winter. His wife pulled me aside and asked my to keep it a secret, and have it ready for Christmas. I finished it on Monday, but didn’t post any pics on the internet to possibly tip Kevin off. He got it this morning, and was pretty happy.
The core steel in the go-Mai is the grader blade, the thin layer is 15n20, and the outer layer is a cloverleaf railroad anchor. We have hundreds of them lying around, as they redid the rail lines in the area a few years back. They are typically a 1050-1060 steel, sometimes with silicon.
9E9A4CE4-44CE-4420-8A8D-E24F51D617F9 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr
6B0F29D2-13F6-4F97-86F0-36EE22DF8EF5 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr
C822E39A-E4E6-4494-8C89-689075D9F030 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr
07EC22EB-80B7-449C-86B8-8EDE9F5E7C2F by Wjkrywko, on Flickr
56F0B197-4FD4-4C3D-A20C-E2F68F4BFF31 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr
Lots of flaws in this one, such as the forging divot on the left side ricasso. The handle has chatoyance almost like good Koa, one of the nicest pieces of maple I have ever used.
A cousin of my best friend in the area was admiring his knife, and asked me to make him one. I’ve done a few now, so I retraced the pattern, and told Kevin I would have it done in the winter. His wife pulled me aside and asked my to keep it a secret, and have it ready for Christmas. I finished it on Monday, but didn’t post any pics on the internet to possibly tip Kevin off. He got it this morning, and was pretty happy.
The core steel in the go-Mai is the grader blade, the thin layer is 15n20, and the outer layer is a cloverleaf railroad anchor. We have hundreds of them lying around, as they redid the rail lines in the area a few years back. They are typically a 1050-1060 steel, sometimes with silicon.
9E9A4CE4-44CE-4420-8A8D-E24F51D617F9 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr6B0F29D2-13F6-4F97-86F0-36EE22DF8EF5 by Wjkrywko, on FlickrC822E39A-E4E6-4494-8C89-689075D9F030 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr07EC22EB-80B7-449C-86B8-8EDE9F5E7C2F by Wjkrywko, on Flickr56F0B197-4FD4-4C3D-A20C-E2F68F4BFF31 by Wjkrywko, on FlickrLots of flaws in this one, such as the forging divot on the left side ricasso. The handle has chatoyance almost like good Koa, one of the nicest pieces of maple I have ever used.
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