Got to use my WWII

[Shintaro29]

Spent my Memorial Weekend up in the wilderness armed only with my 16.5 WWII and a small folder. Fortunately no bears. Chopped up quite a bit of fire wood and the WWII held up well. Even on some knots and 12' logs. Wish I had the 18' though. Only the tip is weak as I drove it to a few hard ones and it got blunt. I will have to use my dremel to get a sharp point again.
Overall, I think it is the best camp chopper around.
I did bought a cheapy Harbor freight 12' (S &N) axe yesterday to compare log splitting chores on my next trip up.
I wonder if I can heat treat my WWII tip myself using a
torch and oil? Anyone tested the BDC's tip?

 

[BruiseLeee]

Some say it's better to have it bend than for it to snap. Dunno. Depends on if you're trying to poke holes into stuff. When I go to stick the khuk in a log to rest, I generally chop with the blade instead of the tip.

 

[Josh Feltman]

The tip and the portion of the blade near the cho are generally a bit softer than the belly of the blade. This means the tip tends to bend instead of breaking. I don't know if hardening it is the best thing to do.

--Josh

 

[Ripper]

...I wonder if I can heat treat my WWII tip myself using a torch and oil?

Probably not a good idea, the heat required to bring the steel to critical would surely creep down at a high enough level to ruin the heat treat in the sweet spot.
If you continually use and reshape the tip that area will work harden to some degree and hold an edge a little better. To facilitate that, you would be better off to try burnishing the edge back with the chakma instead of grinding it with the dremel. If you do a google search for work hardening, cold working, burnishing or peening (as by hammer) you'll get a better idea of what I mean.
Regards,
Greg

 

[Nasty]

I'd leave it as is...it's meant to be softer there as mentioned. Try to learn to use the sweet spot instead.

 

[hollowdweller]

If you continually use and reshape the tip that area will work harden to some degree and hold an edge a little better. Greg

I agree. I think that when I have kind of reprofiled the edge on the tip to be a bit thinner it seems to stay sharp fine.