First knife. First post. KaBar clone.

[tigerstripe40]

Hello, this is my first post and I figured I'd start off with my first knife.

I used a piece of Toyota Land Cruiser leaf spring steel, heat it up red hot, and then hammered it flat. Then, I traced my buddies Ka-Bar Becker BK2 knife and cut it out with a torch. The result was pretty rough, but after cleaning it up with a grinder, the blank didn't look too bad. It's not straight, though, and there is a bit of a taper to the spring, so the point isn't exactly straight.

Anyhow, I built a filing jig and went to work with some files.
This is after grinding the slag off from cutting with the torch.




Getting started on the filing jig



After about 2 hours.




My room mate comes home and says 'hey, why don't you use the belt grinder?' I said I didn't know we had one, so I pull it out and then refined the edge a bit and put a better curve on it.



I worked it a bitmore for a few hours and then had some other stuff to do. I will be working it more later tonight and will post some more pics.

There is a bit of a wave to the edge, but I am not sure how to get that out. I don't have a forge or anvil (on my list, hehehe).
I've got a bunch more filing to do but over all for my first go at this, I am pretty happy with the results.

-James

 

[tigerstripe40]

Here is the final product



I know it's a bit rough, with the scratches, but I actually rather like it.

After I got the blade beveled, I stuck a couple magnets to it and then heated the blade with my oxy acetylene torch until the magnets fell off, then quenched in some 135 degrees F motor oil. After it had cooled to air temp, I took it inside, wiped off the oil and degreased it. Put it in the oven @ 400 degrees F for 1 hour, then turned the oven off and let it cool overnight.

I soaked it in some white vinegar to give it the patina you can see there.
It takes an edge VERY well and I can get the knife razor sharp, however, it won't hold the edge. I cut up 4 chicken breasts last night using it and the knife cut them quite well, but by the 4th breast it wasn't as sharp (still pretty sharp).

I am looking at building a temperature controlled heat treating oven, though, I might just sent it to Buck and have them heat treat.
It's 5160 steel and I think I can get it to a hardness of 63. If I have it heat treated, is 63 appropriate or should I go a bit less hard?

-James

 

[J. Doyle]

The shoptalk subforum might be a better place for this. There is a TON of info over there for these same questions and there are LOTS of threads just like this where the other comments have helped the maker improve.

As for not holding an edge, you likely didn't get it hot enough or if you did, not for long enough. Additionally the motor oil is a terrible quenchant and probably didn't get the job done either.

 

[Lorien]

now THAT, is a prison shank!

 

[Mecha]

[video=youtube;_y8fktl29X8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y8fktl29X8[/video]

 

[FullyTorque]

Nice first effort.
One word of advice. You may not have gotten the blade fully up to the right temperature before quenching. Magnets will lose their magnetism when they're hot. By having them on the blade as you heated it up you were also heating up the magnets. It is very likely that they fell off before the blade became nonmagnetic. You'll be able to tell this pretty easily if you test the blade. It will probably be too soft causing it dull easily and the edge to roll.
Test the blade before you put on a permanent handle. If it's too soft try heat treating it again. This time keep the magnets away from the heat source and only briefly touch the blade to them when checking for the nonmagnetic temp.
Spend a few days searching and reading threads in the Shop Talk Subforum. There is a wealth of information there and it will save you hours and hours of wasted time and effort.

 

[12345678910]

Nice first effort.
One word of advice. You may not have gotten the blade fully up to the right temperature before quenching.
Magnets will lose their magnetism when they're hot. By having them on the blade as you heated it up you were also heating up the magnets. It is very likely that they fell off before the blade became nonmagnetic. You'll be able to tell this pretty easily if you test the blade. It will probably be too soft causing it dull easily and the edge to roll.

...try heat treating it again. This time keep the magnets away from the heat source and only briefly touch the blade to them when checking for the nonmagnetic temp.

Here is the final product

[url]http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/540/uciuUL.jpg [/URL]


I am looking at building a temperature controlled heat treating oven, though, I might just sent it to Buck and have them heat treat.
It's 5160 steel and I think I can get it to a hardness of 63. If I have it heat treated, is 63 appropriate or should I go a bit less hard?

-James

I was going to suggest you move the eyebolt back on your jig, but I see you figured that out between photo 2 and photo 3


It looks like the belt sander you used has a very coarse belt on to give you those scratches.
Any time you spend resanding to get them out will rgive you a better looking project
Go back to really coarse paper and wrap it around the file in the jig, see how good you can get it.



I agree with the HT it again, it probably didn't get hot enough.
Even if you found the loss of magnetism, you want to go a bit hotter than that. Maybe 100 degrees F more


You don't have 5160, you have a car leaf spring, you don't know what steel it is.

You can't sent it to buck, they only do air quench steels




http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...f-start-up-equipment!?p=14361431#post14361431


I imagine 63 RC is too hard and if you do get it that hard, you will experience chipping.