How to test the heat treat of a dagger?

So I've used my knives as pry bars and as choppers, the knife I put through most abuse is Recon Tanto.
I chopped down even larger pieces of wood, plastic and loads and loads of other things, and I also stabbed some stuff with it so it's safe to say that heat treatment is good. But again, this is a knife made by a well known reputable manufacturer.

If you would return the dagger in case it's not heat treated or not heat treated well then I suggest you doing a test that will "either make it or break it"... at least you wouldn't offend the maker.
If I was the maker I'd not be offended by my blade snapping during a test or use, but by someone returning my gift after he schratched or bent it? Well that would offend me.

Try chopping something with it since chopping stresses the blade, and since wood is softer than steel it won't leave schratches or permanent marks on it.
You can also try to bend it as someone suggested, if blade picks up permanent bend you can always bend it back.

Also I can't wrap my head around returning a blade because of it's heat treatment if you don't plan to ever use it? Especially since it's a gift.
 
Smiling said:
So I've used my knives as pry bars and as choppers, the knife I put through most abuse is Recon Tanto.
I chopped down even larger pieces of wood, plastic and loads and loads of other things, and I also stabbed some stuff with it so it's safe to say that heat treatment is good. But again, this is a knife made by a well known reputable manufacturer.

If you would return the dagger in case it's not heat treated or not heat treated well then I suggest you doing a test that will "either make it or break it"... at least you wouldn't offend the maker.
If I was the maker I'd not be offended by my blade snapping during a test or use, but by someone returning my gift after he schratched or bent it? Well that would offend me.

Try chopping something with it since chopping stresses the blade, and since wood is softer than steel it won't leave schratches or permanent marks on it.
You can also try to bend it as someone suggested, if blade picks up permanent bend you can always bend it back.

Also I can't wrap my head around returning a blade because of it's heat treatment if you don't plan to ever use it? Especially since it's a gift.
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Hello sir I’ve used the Vg1 recon tanto and found it chippy from cutting branches though my sk5 recon tanto is fine. I guess i didn’t think my question through while hastily writing it under the influence of bourbon. Thanks for info it’s good stuff.
 
Cloudstrife said:
Hello sir I’ve used the Vg1 recon tanto and found it chippy from cutting branches though my sk5 recon tanto is fine. I guess i didn’t think my question through while hastily writing it under the influence of bourbon. Thanks for info it’s good stuff.
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I also have the SK-5 Recon Tanto.
I bought it long time ago, I knew basically nothing about knives back then, girl working there told me Recon Tanto since it's her favourite knife for some reason.
They had CPM3-V, San Mai, VG1, and SK-5 versions, SK-5 being the cheapest.
She has told me it's only cheaper since it can rust, but it's actually second toughest, just after 3V which is most expensive. And I was sold on it.
 
i have a scorpion dagger made in England Sheffield and I tested it by chopping up a Christmas tree and it flew thought the test it is 420 and it didn't even need touching up it held a good edge and it was a lot better than I could have hope for it was hand made for me and worth the price and the 2 month wait
http://imgur.com/a/fLty9RR
 
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Cloudstrife said:
Hello I am soon to have a custom dagger gifted to me by a journeyman knife maker, I don’t actually intent to use this dagger but I still want to make sure the heat treat is good. How would I test it? Few thrusts into pine? Sorry for the newbie question.
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There are several good blade testing methods to be found on Youtube, if you'd bothered to look it up. o_O

1. Place the dagger tip-down against a cinderblock, and then beat the tang end with a hammer, splitting the block or even bursting it apart if the dagger is powerful enough. If the hT is good, the tip should be needle-sharp after bursting ten cinderblocks.

2: Place the dagger's blade against a common red brick, and beat the blade with a wooden bat or equivalent, splitting the brick like a karate chop. The blade should be able to split 10 red bricks without damage.

3: Place a 1/4" mild steel rod on a piece of hard wood, bring the dagger's edge to bear against the rod, and beat the blade with the bat. Try to split the rod in one blow. It should be able to split the rod in one blow without any warping, rolling, or dulling.

4: Place the dagger in salt water and leave it for one night, then take it out and leave it to air dry for a few days. If the HT is good, there should be no rust.

If, after these tests the blade has gotten dull, taken damage, or rusted, then boy howdy you just send that dagger right on back to the maker, tell him what you did to test it, and give him a strongly-worded piece of your mind about how bad his HT is. o_O
 
naw... he's just too spoiled with using titanium/niobium blades all the time... you can't blame him for poking fun at steel ; )
 
Mecha said:
There are several good blade testing methods to be found on Youtube, if you'd bothered to look it up. o_O

1. Place the dagger tip-down against a cinderblock, and then beat the tang end with a hammer, splitting the block or even bursting it apart if the dagger is powerful enough. If the hT is good, the tip should be needle-sharp after bursting ten cinderblocks.

2: Place the dagger's blade against a common red brick, and beat the blade with a wooden bat or equivalent, splitting the brick like a karate chop. The blade should be able to split 10 red bricks without damage.

3: Place a 1/4" mild steel rod on a piece of hard wood, bring the dagger's edge to bear against the rod, and beat the blade with the bat. Try to split the rod in one blow. It should be able to split the rod in one blow without any warping, rolling, or dulling.

4: Place the dagger in salt water and leave it for one night, then take it out and leave it to air dry for a few days. If the HT is good, there should be no rust.

If, after these tests the blade has gotten dull, taken damage, or rusted, then boy howdy you just send that dagger right on back to the maker, tell him what you did to test it, and give him a strongly-worded piece of your mind about how bad his HT is. o_O
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Alright pilgrim will do.
 
I can understand wanting a piece, that will essentially be art for you, to also be the real deal, heat treat and all.
The thing is, you said it's a gift. At least where I'm from, it would be considered extremely rude to scrutinize a gift, especially as openly as you are doing here.
If he's gifting it to you to be used, then no problem, and in using the knife it will generally become quite apparent if the heat treat is good or not.
If you're not going to be using it and the blade is a gift for you to cherish and display in your home or business, then you should honor your friend by cherishing the gift rather than scrutinizing it.
 
For one, if he is a journeyman knife maker, he probably knows how to properly heat treat a knife blade.
Secondly, knife making is hard work, believe me, I’ve made enough to know how much effort goes into each knife. So someone must think a lot of you to give you one that has been handmade as a gift. IMO it would be very disrespectful to return it even if the whole thing is made out of wood.
If I were you, I would either use the thing or put it away and not be too concerned about how well the blade is heat treated.
 
Cloudstrife said:
Alright pilgrim will do.
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Capture some footage of the heat-treat testing and post it up, if you don't mind. At this point I'm sure we at Bladeforums are all curious to see how it goes.
 
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