First knife with ultimate goal of making a cleaver

C

clofgreen

Joined
Sep 28, 2016
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8
My goal with this thread is to work towards making a cleaver similar to the one shown below that I will use around my yards and garden.

Dexter%20Cleaver_zpsdrtqgpqo.jpg


Here is my first attempt at making a knife. I will make others as I practice and learn from members of this forum, who I have to thank for posting so many useful threads that helped make my first knife a relative success.

knife%20small_zpslarzzd3e.jpg


The steel I used was Aldo Bruno's 1084 1/8" x 1.5". I cut and shaped it with my limited arsenal of tools; a 3x21 belt sander, angle grinder and electric drill. I heat treated it in a hardwood charcoal fire, tested it with a magnet and quenched in canola oil. I tempered it twice in my oven for an hour at 435°. I made the handle out of some mahogany I had laying around rubbed with Danish oil. I am happy with the knife so far. It takes and holds an edge quite well.

Now the million dollar question: Given these materials, tools and process, is it reasonable that I will be able to make a cleaver from 1/4" 1084 steel? Are there things I need to change in my process?

Craig
 
I think your knife came out quite good for what you have. It is a lot nicer than my first knife and my tools were ever so slightly better than what you have. A 1/30 belt grinder, small drill press, angle grinders, portaband, and bench grinders and buffers and a crude brick forge w/propane burner.

The only thing I might have done was add a little radius to the handle edges and maybe some contour, very nice.
 
Are you related to Bob or Jimmy Lofgreen?

Determination is the most important thing in knife making.

Hoss
 
clofgreen said:
My goal with this thread is to work towards making a cleaver similar to the one shown below that I will use around my yards and garden.

The steel I used was Aldo Bruno's 1084 1/8" x 1.5". I cut and shaped it with my limited arsenal of tools; a 3x21 belt sander, angle grinder and electric drill. I heat treated it in a hardwood charcoal fire, tested it with a magnet and quenched in canola oil. I tempered it twice in my oven for an hour at 435°. I made the handle out of some mahogany I had laying around rubbed with Danish oil. I am happy with the knife so far. It takes and holds an edge quite well.

Now the million dollar question: Given these materials, tools and process, is it reasonable that I will be able to make a cleaver from 1/4" 1084 steel? Are there things I need to change in my process?

Craig
Click to expand...

i would start with an 1/8" cleaver, say 6"x2 1/2". also, make something like a muffle, get a piece of 3" steel pipe about 12" to 18" long, lay it on top of a 2" bed of glowing coals, the bury all but one end in glowing coals, should help you get an even, steady heat. you can get a high temperature thermocouple and display for about $30 so you don't have to rely on magnet to tell temperature.
 
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The knife looks great. I started with similar tools.

The 1/4" will take a while with that grinder, but with a little elbow grease and some high quality belts I think its definitely possible. Go for it.
 
Thanks for all the good comments. I've decided I need some more experience before tackling the cleaver so am going to make a 3/16" bush knife next.

There is one thing I just noticed about my knife. The area marked in the photo below seems to dull a bit sooner than the rest. When I quenched in canola oil I didn't know it was supposed to be heated to 130° first. Could this be the cause?

knife%20dull_zpssi4prxuf.jpg



@DevinT: I see from your web page that Bob lives in AZ so we're probably related. Beautiful Damascus work, BTW.

@ScottLivesey: Thanks for the cool idea for the muffle. I'm going to give it a try.

Craig
 
clofgreen said:
Thanks for all the good comments. I've decided I need some more experience before tackling the cleaver so am going to make a 3/16" bush knife next.

There is one thing I just noticed about my knife. The area marked in the photo below seems to dull a bit sooner than the rest. When I quenched in canola oil I didn't know it was supposed to be heated to 130° first. Could this be the cause?



knife%20dull_zpssi4prxuf.jpg



@DevinT: I see from your web page that Bob lives in AZ so we're probably related. Beautiful Damascus work, BTW.

@ScottLivesey: Thanks for the cool idea for the muffle. I'm going to give it a try.

Craig
Click to expand...


Possibly didn't harden, might be a bit of decarb still on the edge that didn't get ground off, did you overheat when grinding or sharpening(steel turned brown or blue)? or it might be the part of the edge that gets used the most. Any one or combo of the above can cause what you experience.
 
Nice looking first knife there! I have found with 1084 in smaller knives, that a 400 degree temper works well.

I like your plan to slowly work up to a larger knife.
 
I wouldnt think oil temp would affect an isolated area of the knife, but I am not sure.

I would guess decarb? I never knew how thick some decarb could be until I began etching my blades.
 
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