I think I got a hard one!

Milt

Milt

Joined
Nov 16, 2008
Messages
260
My latest blade seems to be rather hard- if sound is an indicator. The blade is finished but for final polishing. It was made from 3/16" 1080, normalized at 1600 degrees for 2 minutes, air cooled, hardened at 1475 for 3 minutes, oil quenched (fast oil), tempered for 2 hours at 400 degrees, then about 6 hours at 400 (the oven never shut off). This is my standard procedure.

When I hit the blade with a pencil, it pings so nicely. None of my other knives sing like that, but rather make a dull sound.

Ideas?


Milt
 
Puns are fun!

It doesn't ping anymore. I put the handle on and shortened the OL slightly. It sharpened nicely. The grind got a bit higher than I wanted. Comments welcome- pro and con.


Milt

hardone.jpg
 
Often times, geometry will play the biggest factor in the ring of a blade. But I do know that sound you are referring to when you can hear the difference between the blade when it was soft vs. after hardening. I flick the blade with my fingertip right out of the quench out of habit to listen for that sound.

Oh, and I think the knife looks great. I like the overall shape and especially the grind and blade shape. The thing I would comment on is that the guard seems out of proportion to the rest of the knife. It just sticks out too far in my eye and draws my attention to it and distracts from the rest of the knife's beauty. If it were me, I would shorten the amount the guard extends from the handle and thin it a bit on the protrusion. Just a personal taste. Great job!

--nathan
 
silver_pilate said:
Often times, geometry will play the biggest factor in the ring of a blade. But I do know that sound you are referring to when you can hear the difference between the blade when it was soft vs. after hardening. I flick the blade with my fingertip right out of the quench out of habit to listen for that sound.

Oh, and I think the knife looks great. I like the overall shape and especially the grind and blade shape. The thing I would comment on is that the guard seems out of proportion to the rest of the knife. It just sticks out too far in my eye and draws my attention to it and distracts from the rest of the knife's beauty. If it were me, I would shorten the amount the guard extends from the handle and thin it a bit on the protrusion. Just a personal taste. Great job!

--nathan
Click to expand...
What Nathan said. I round off the top front of the guard and taper the sides. It will make it look less blocky. Otherwise, Nice knife.
 
Knife looks great, I like your grind line but agree it could have been slightly lower.
Overall love the shape of the blade and the handle. I think the guard could have been made with thinner stock. Its too thick for that size knife. If it were a big fighter it would be perfect.
Chris
 
OK fellas. Thanks for your input. I trimmed up the guard, and agree with you that it looks better. What do you think? Do you think the handle is blocky?

Milt
 

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The handle is a little blocky for my tastes but it definitely looks like a whole new (and definitely much better looking) knife. Nicely done!
 
MUCH better! It does look like a whole different knife. If you wanted, you could round off the handle edges a bit more, but that is really just personal preference. With the slim, sleek profile of the blade, a slimmer, more rounded handle may fit it better.

Good job!

--nathan
 
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