Duel heat treatment

[archeriomc]

I have been looking for a large Bowie for sometime now and have come across a Outback from downunderknives.com. There Bowie is claimed to be Dual heat treated blade 57ish and spine 47ish Rockwell hardness, any experience with this?

 

[saw45]

No experience with that company, but the process you described has been around forever. A softer spine creates a less brittle, stronger and more flexible knife, while the harder blade edge allows for a knife that takes and keeps a better edge.

 

[archeriomc]

Thanks for the come back, I was unaware it is a older heat treat, they show the tip being bent and the flexibility of a 11 inch blade was remarkable.

 

[me2]

No experience with that company, but the process you described has been around forever. A softer spine creates a more ductile, tougher, and more bendable knife, while the harder blade edge allows for a knife that takes and keeps a better edge.

Fixed that for you. Indeed the softer spine/harder edge treatment has been around a long time. Some examples are the katana, traditionally made kukri's, and many modern forged blades. You may also want to look into the laminated blades offered by Cold Steel, Fallkniven, and some puukko style makers. These have a harder steel center for cutting sandwiched between some softer metal on the outer faces. This type of construction also lends itself to the properties above. Some makers (companies and individuals alike) take advantage of the laminated blades to cover edge steels more prone to corrosion with outer layers of higher corrosion resistance. If you want a knife that will bend, but will probably take more than a human can dish out to break, then differing hardness from spine to edge works well.

 

[sambo.]

if you're buying from downunderknives because you think they are an Australian firm, please think again. i came across them a while back and didn't like anything i found out about them.

for a start, no Australian maker would be openly advertising push daggers (they are highly illegal in all states).

they don't state where they are based, some of my digging seems to indicate they are a Chinese firm trying to cash in with "Crocodile Dundee" style blades.

if you're prepared to spend the US$250 on The Outback model, i feel you would be better served by a similar blade from Fallkniven, ESEE or even, gasp, Cold Steel.

$250 for a production blade in 440C just doesn't strike me as being good value.

I'd honestly go with a Cold Steel Natchez Bowie or a Fallkniven A2 over "The Outback" anyday if i was in the market for a blade that size.

and i damn well LIVE in The Outback.

 

[antonio_luiz]

I'd honestly go with a Cold Steel Natchez Bowie or a Fallkniven A2 over "The Outback" anyday if i was in the market for a blade that size.

and i damn well LIVE in The Outback.

One of the knife mags reviewed the Outback Bowie recently - I got the distinct impression that other than it's size, they reviewer was underwhelmed by its performance and was scratching for positive things to say. Bowies that size are really meant to be fighting knives. Unless you intend to wrestle bears or crocodiles, a big bowie like that really isn't going to prove terribly useful for the majority of tasks you're likely to need a knife for