Does anyone clay coat the back of their blades and water quench just the edge?

[greebozz]

I saw a documentory on sword making seemed a good idea, does it work.

Basicaly carbon steel blade tempered for spinginess, blade coated in clay to inserlate it, and just the edge exposed for an ultra hard quench.

 

[rashid11]

it is called differential quench and plenty of folx do it. Works only with
simple carbon steels (10xx, Wx, Ox).

The goal is to have hard cutting edge and flexible spine.

With knifes, you dont have to clay-protect the blades, as long as you can
submerge the cutting edge only, it will work fine. Oil in a shallow pan is typically used for that.

The oil will inevitably catch on fire and smoke like crazy, when any of the
blade is sticking out, so be prepared for that.

 

[Don Hanson III]

I do it like this but in oil.

 

[JCaswell]

What a nice effect!
It's extra cool knowing what it is you're seeing (the material "caught" in transformation.) Very nice example, indeed.

 

[greebozz]

Hi guys thanks for the replies very interesting, and loverly knife sunfishman.

I am just curious how do you heat just the edge, do you just run a blow torch along it.

I am thinking of exprinmenting with some an old Opinel carbon steel blade I think it is 1050 steel. I do wook carving and wonder if harden the edge more.

I am wondering how far you could push it with a water quench would the edge just snap off with use.

 

[Don Hanson III]

Hi guys thanks for the replies very interesting, and loverly knife sunfishman.

I am just curious how do you heat just the edge, do you just run a blow torch along it.

I am thinking of exprinmenting with some an old Opinel carbon steel blade I think it is 1050 steel. I do wook carving and wonder if harden the edge more.

I am wondering how far you could push it with a water quench would the edge just snap off with use.

The blade above is not finished, it has a 120 grit belt finish with a light etch, it should finish out nice.

I put the clay from the hamon to the spine and heat the entire blade then quench the entire blade point down in oil. I have also just heated the edge on smaller blades with a torch for good results.

The Opinel carbon steel is most likely 1095 and not 1050 but you can heat and quench these blades. I would use oil as the quench, water is not necessary on such a thin cross section and will probably crack the edge. Most importantly is NOT to over heat the steel.