Taking advantage of the warm weather in Indiana today, I called my brother to go out and play. Needed to reintroduce some lead back to the ground and had a few knives that I wanted to start running through the ringer.
First up, run through about 200 rounds of .45 through the Glock family. My 21 and 36, my bro's 30. Had a great time and we were able to recover the vast majority of the casings so I can continue to go out there. Next up, the knives...
Same design, added a pry end to the back of the latest one, seems more useful than a skull crusher. Both are made of 1084 from Aldo's, 1/8" thick, 1.5" wide (at widest point, blade is closer to 1"), approx 9 inches long. Heat treat completed with my oxy-acetylene torch and quenched in vegetable oil (I need to purchase some canola). Tempered in the oven. First test...
chopping. While these are not large knives, they will do the trick. This stick is about 1'5" thick and recently fell from Walnut trees at the back of the property. This stuff is hard!!! (that's what she said) Both blades did very well, no chips or rolling and still felt very sharp to the touch. Next up...
tried to make some kindling. I'm not very good at making a good display of this but made plenty of thin slices of walnut to light up quickly. Again, this wood is very hard, has not been sitting on the ground very long. Since I chopped through the larger stick and made a nice baton, I decided to give that a try.
First knife, destroyed the baton and in the process, made a bigger one.
Once again, both knives performed very well. Neither showed any damage to the spine (as they shouldn't: steel vs wood should be pretty predictable), and the edge continued to hold up very well. Decided to test the flex in the blades next. First knife (the latest one that I completed with the pry end) performed well.
I did not attempt to bend the knife, just bend it a few degrees to test the ability to pop back. The second knife did not fair as well.
The second one is on the right. I could feel the knife accept the bend instead of fighting it. I believe the first knife I tested had a better heat treatment. I spent the extra time to get the blade heated properly due to only having heat treating on the agenda for the day (4 knives). I was in a bit of a hurry to complete the other knife after grinding it out in one day, which is beyond my skill set right now. Regardless, I was able to bend the blade back (I'm sure weakening it in the process) and it remained usable. No visible cracking on either knife.
Now at home, after dinner and cleaning guns, I am looking at the knives again. They are not able to shave paper as they could before, although if I cut in at a steeper angle, they will still cut some of the time. I do not yet own any sharpening stones but I believe a few swipes either on a stone or over the top of a vehicle window would get them back very quickly. I may explore that after work tomorrow.
Other lessons: I placed a mirror finish on these knives in order to help me identify how my grinding was. I still have some deeper scratches (used 80-220-400-600 grit belts) that I need to work on getting out before moving to the next belt. I also need to start with 50-60 and put a step around 100-120 before going up to the 220. Belts are already killing me, am I the first to experience this
?
I welcome feedback and have used it extensively in the past. I also appreciate positive comments as to what I seem to be doing well.
My plan from here is to SLOW DOWN. I have completed 11 knives at this time though none are ready to be sold until my grinding improves considerably. Thanks for reading this far and dealing with my newb questions and need for affirmation.
First up, run through about 200 rounds of .45 through the Glock family. My 21 and 36, my bro's 30. Had a great time and we were able to recover the vast majority of the casings so I can continue to go out there. Next up, the knives...
Same design, added a pry end to the back of the latest one, seems more useful than a skull crusher. Both are made of 1084 from Aldo's, 1/8" thick, 1.5" wide (at widest point, blade is closer to 1"), approx 9 inches long. Heat treat completed with my oxy-acetylene torch and quenched in vegetable oil (I need to purchase some canola). Tempered in the oven. First test...
chopping. While these are not large knives, they will do the trick. This stick is about 1'5" thick and recently fell from Walnut trees at the back of the property. This stuff is hard!!! (that's what she said) Both blades did very well, no chips or rolling and still felt very sharp to the touch. Next up...
tried to make some kindling. I'm not very good at making a good display of this but made plenty of thin slices of walnut to light up quickly. Again, this wood is very hard, has not been sitting on the ground very long. Since I chopped through the larger stick and made a nice baton, I decided to give that a try.
First knife, destroyed the baton and in the process, made a bigger one.
Once again, both knives performed very well. Neither showed any damage to the spine (as they shouldn't: steel vs wood should be pretty predictable), and the edge continued to hold up very well. Decided to test the flex in the blades next. First knife (the latest one that I completed with the pry end) performed well.
I did not attempt to bend the knife, just bend it a few degrees to test the ability to pop back. The second knife did not fair as well.
The second one is on the right. I could feel the knife accept the bend instead of fighting it. I believe the first knife I tested had a better heat treatment. I spent the extra time to get the blade heated properly due to only having heat treating on the agenda for the day (4 knives). I was in a bit of a hurry to complete the other knife after grinding it out in one day, which is beyond my skill set right now. Regardless, I was able to bend the blade back (I'm sure weakening it in the process) and it remained usable. No visible cracking on either knife.
Now at home, after dinner and cleaning guns, I am looking at the knives again. They are not able to shave paper as they could before, although if I cut in at a steeper angle, they will still cut some of the time. I do not yet own any sharpening stones but I believe a few swipes either on a stone or over the top of a vehicle window would get them back very quickly. I may explore that after work tomorrow.
Other lessons: I placed a mirror finish on these knives in order to help me identify how my grinding was. I still have some deeper scratches (used 80-220-400-600 grit belts) that I need to work on getting out before moving to the next belt. I also need to start with 50-60 and put a step around 100-120 before going up to the 220. Belts are already killing me, am I the first to experience this
?I welcome feedback and have used it extensively in the past. I also appreciate positive comments as to what I seem to be doing well.
My plan from here is to SLOW DOWN. I have completed 11 knives at this time though none are ready to be sold until my grinding improves considerably. Thanks for reading this far and dealing with my newb questions and need for affirmation.
