Help with guthook.

[trentu]

Have a guy that wants a guthook on a knife. I'm using 1095 for the blade but have never done one yet. How or what do I use to sharpen and shape it? Do they tend to crack during heat treat? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[A. Brett Schaller]

I've done a couple. After shaping the profile of the hook, I used a chainsaw file to put the bevel in. I polished the bevel with a cratex point and a Dremel tool. I took the bevel right down to sharp before heat treat without a problem, but I use stainless heat treated in an oxygen free atmosphere.