About myself:
Hi everyone,
my name is Finn and I´m a hobby knifemaker from Bonn, Germany. I just recently joined the forum, so please let me know if I am doing anything wrong or stuff like that.
I made my first knife together woth a blacksmith when I was around 12 but that doesn´t really count since he did most of the work. Since then, I have made 2 proper knives including HT and everything, except forging, I only made a failed attempt there.
I am using the workshop of my local scout club "Scouting Bonn e.V." it´s basically like boyscouts but we´re not like most german scouts, in a sense that we aren´t part of some big scout association and don´t wear uniforms.
We have a gas-forge with 2 outlets and everything I would call "basic powertools" (belt grinder, angle grinder, drill press etc.)
Back to my other knives. I am using the workshop almost weekly for 8 years now, so I know my way around the tools quite well. Grinding the knife has always been my smallest problem. So most of my questions will regard heat treating and the proper attachment of the handle.
I have hopefully read all important sticky threads and informed myself a little beyond that.
The project:
A chef´s knife with a relatively thin spine (1-1,5mm) made out of 1095 carbon steel (1.1274 / C100)
https://imgur.com/gallery/UQGhnVv
This is roughly how I want the knife to look (the thick outline)
So far we have been quenching our knives relatively unscientific. We let them get hot until kitchen salt melted on them, then a little longer and then quenched them in some old black stinky oil (don´t ask me which kind)
For this knife I want to do everything properly.
Sadly most quenching oils are nearly unavailable in germany (as far as my research goes) unless you have some kind of company that uses this stuff. So I have the common options of canola oil and water or would have to buy some kind of oil and find out if/how it works for quenching.
Since canola oil is too slow for 1095 from what I´ve read so far, especially when making a kitchen knife, I hope I can do a water quench for this specific knife.
I am aware of the risks of such an agressive quench and they are the main reason I am creating this post.
Here is what I have figured out so far (quenching/tempering):
So here goes question 7. Will I be able to widen the steel to 7-8 cm while keeping it between 1-1,5mm thickness? Or should I reconsider my design?
Last but not least, the handle:
Once again,I have quite some experience with the tools we have, so making the handle should be no problem. The problem is how to fix the handle to the blade. I have made 2 knives so far and I used different techniques on them. The first one has has meatl running through the whole handle, with wood placed, pinned and glued (epoxy) to both sides.
It´s pretty solid and straightforward, but I would prefer my handle to be completely out of wood for this project. That´s why I wanted to use the second technique again, where you make a hole for a metal pin at the end of the blade (In german this pin is called "Erl", I don´t know the english terminology) For my last knife, I simply cut the flat end of the knife to fit into the handle and thought that was a good way to do it. The problem occured, when I tried to drill a rectangular hole that was deep enough for the connection to be secure and stable. Especially since smaller drills tend to be shorter and less stablem but I didn´t want a big drill ruining the look by leaving a big circle filled with epoxy on top of the handle.
So, to avoid this problem this time, I decided to go for a "Spitzerl" instead of a "Flacherl".
What this means is that I have to round of the end of my workpiece and then only drill one single hole to fit this in.
Problem is, my metal is only 3mm thick. Of course it´s only a kitchen knife and won´t be experiencing to much stress, but I really don´t want it to break.
8. Do you think forging the end to be around 5mm in diameter is enough or should I go for a flat pin and put a metal plate on top of the handle to cover the ugly drilling hole?
Any help is appreciated
Hi everyone,
my name is Finn and I´m a hobby knifemaker from Bonn, Germany. I just recently joined the forum, so please let me know if I am doing anything wrong or stuff like that.
I made my first knife together woth a blacksmith when I was around 12 but that doesn´t really count since he did most of the work. Since then, I have made 2 proper knives including HT and everything, except forging, I only made a failed attempt there.
I am using the workshop of my local scout club "Scouting Bonn e.V." it´s basically like boyscouts but we´re not like most german scouts, in a sense that we aren´t part of some big scout association and don´t wear uniforms.
We have a gas-forge with 2 outlets and everything I would call "basic powertools" (belt grinder, angle grinder, drill press etc.)
Back to my other knives. I am using the workshop almost weekly for 8 years now, so I know my way around the tools quite well. Grinding the knife has always been my smallest problem. So most of my questions will regard heat treating and the proper attachment of the handle.
I have hopefully read all important sticky threads and informed myself a little beyond that.
The project:
A chef´s knife with a relatively thin spine (1-1,5mm) made out of 1095 carbon steel (1.1274 / C100)
https://imgur.com/gallery/UQGhnVv
This is roughly how I want the knife to look (the thick outline)
So far we have been quenching our knives relatively unscientific. We let them get hot until kitchen salt melted on them, then a little longer and then quenched them in some old black stinky oil (don´t ask me which kind)
For this knife I want to do everything properly.
Sadly most quenching oils are nearly unavailable in germany (as far as my research goes) unless you have some kind of company that uses this stuff. So I have the common options of canola oil and water or would have to buy some kind of oil and find out if/how it works for quenching.
Since canola oil is too slow for 1095 from what I´ve read so far, especially when making a kitchen knife, I hope I can do a water quench for this specific knife.
I am aware of the risks of such an agressive quench and they are the main reason I am creating this post.
Here is what I have figured out so far (quenching/tempering):
- Heat to non-magnetic (1415° F / 770° C) and then put back in the forge until it´s one or two shades further. (1475-1500° F/ 800-815° C)
- Heat in a square pipe, that is standing on one edge to distribute heat evenly.
- Heat knife edge down to prevent the edge from overheating. (outlets are on top of the forge)
- After reaching the quenching temp, waste no time on the way to the water.
- Put the knife blade first into the water, in a relatively flat angle
- Quench for 3 seconds, moving back and forth or up and down to prevent bubbles isolating one spot, never move sideways
- After 3 seconds take out of the water for a minute, let it slowly cool down in the air for a minute, then back into the water (to speed up cooling) until the blade reaches room temp.
- Directly into the (pre-heated) tempering oven (using a seperate thermometer)
- Are there any major misconceptions in the process above?
- What temp should the water have (couldn´t find much on water tempering 1095)
- I have read some people use soap or other things to reduce surface tension. Does that help/ what´s best to use?
- Water or brine? (pros and cons)
- What temperature to temper? It´s a kitchen knife so I´m guessing somewhere around 350-400° F ?
- How thick should I leave the blade, considering that the spine is max 1,5mm thick
So here goes question 7. Will I be able to widen the steel to 7-8 cm while keeping it between 1-1,5mm thickness? Or should I reconsider my design?
Last but not least, the handle:
Once again,I have quite some experience with the tools we have, so making the handle should be no problem. The problem is how to fix the handle to the blade. I have made 2 knives so far and I used different techniques on them. The first one has has meatl running through the whole handle, with wood placed, pinned and glued (epoxy) to both sides.
It´s pretty solid and straightforward, but I would prefer my handle to be completely out of wood for this project. That´s why I wanted to use the second technique again, where you make a hole for a metal pin at the end of the blade (In german this pin is called "Erl", I don´t know the english terminology) For my last knife, I simply cut the flat end of the knife to fit into the handle and thought that was a good way to do it. The problem occured, when I tried to drill a rectangular hole that was deep enough for the connection to be secure and stable. Especially since smaller drills tend to be shorter and less stablem but I didn´t want a big drill ruining the look by leaving a big circle filled with epoxy on top of the handle.
So, to avoid this problem this time, I decided to go for a "Spitzerl" instead of a "Flacherl".
What this means is that I have to round of the end of my workpiece and then only drill one single hole to fit this in.
Problem is, my metal is only 3mm thick. Of course it´s only a kitchen knife and won´t be experiencing to much stress, but I really don´t want it to break.
8. Do you think forging the end to be around 5mm in diameter is enough or should I go for a flat pin and put a metal plate on top of the handle to cover the ugly drilling hole?
Any help is appreciated
