FIRST two finished knives HT questions and TESTING inquiry.

[tacticalrescue]

Hello all,

I have finished my first two arne 6 (O1) fixed blade knives. i sharpened one to 20 degrees and went tested it out. everything was great on fruit and branches but when i took it into the woods and slammed it on some wood to cut a notch to test how it would hold up it really broke down and even had very very small what i might call "chips" from the blade. did i HT wrong? is this test just exactly what i should expect from a 20 degree angle vs. a stronger 30 for such a task. I'm really asking for any advice on how i should be testing my HT after the knife is all finished and done. they both passed "file" tests and such when i was doing the HT. I'm sending some blades of mine out to get professional HT done and see how they pair up after that but this one favorite one of mine already has wood handles glued on and i don't wanna break them off if i did it right and just have no idea what is normal or optimal.

sorry if this sounds scattered but bottom line i want to make a great outdoor fixed blade knife and I'm learning the basics and wanna know how best to see how I've done so far.

thanks for anyones help,
Marc

 

[Alfazulu]

Did you temper them after hardening? They should not chip when chopping wood. A 20 degree angle is not excessively acute. It sounds like the steel is too hard to me, and not tough enough, that is, if it is indeed chipping. If the edge is ROLLING, then maybe it didn't harden. If you did temper the blade after heat treat/quench, to what temperature did you temper it and for how long?

 

[tacticalrescue]

Did you temper them after hardening? They should not chip when chopping wood. A 20 degree angle is not excessively acute. It sounds like the steel is too hard to me, and not tough enough, that is, if it is indeed chipping. If the edge is ROLLING, then maybe it didn't harden. If you did temper the blade after heat treat/quench, to what temperature did you temper it and for how long?

thanks alfa zulu for your reply. yes i tempered three times at 200 celsius if i can remember right. not sure how long but i followed what i read online. i believe 2 hours? on a second look i actually see that it is ROLLING and not CHIPPING. so its too soft..... guess that means my HT didn't do the job. ill send it out for professional then...... Is there anyway to correct this without taking the handles off? does CRYO need to remove the handles?

all the best, thanks