I made a little knife over the weekend from a Nicholson file (reputedly made from W1) After annealing and filing/drilling it to the shape I wanted, I did a heat treat on it and got it pretty hard. I have read that W1 can go as high as 65Rc. I dont think its that hard, as I can still file it, albeit with a lot of difficulty. A coarse file will slide right off it, a finer file will, with some pressure (read, a lot) bite slightly into the blade. What hardness is usually too hard to file?
This is a pocket fixed blade that I intend to open boxes with and maybe do some carving, So I didnt care too much about tempering it. Is there a Kentucky Windage method fo determinimg harness without a defacto hardness tester?
This is a pocket fixed blade that I intend to open boxes with and maybe do some carving, So I didnt care too much about tempering it. Is there a Kentucky Windage method fo determinimg harness without a defacto hardness tester?
