Just made my second knife, would love feedback. Is there any way to HT unknown steel?

[Bigfattyt]

This forum is full of great information. Don't worry if it feels a bit above your head.

A lot of guys recommend practicing on scrap steel to practice grinding etc.

One great thing about making knives in your garage, is the actual steel to make the knives is pretty darned cheap.

You can order it from many knife making supply stores.

When you are talking about heat treating simple carbon steels, you are not talking about "campfire" temps.

If you add an air source, then you are.

Natural lump charcoal. Break it into tiny bite sized pieces, add an air source (this can be as simple as a fan pointed at the coals).

I would be surprised if the steel you have is "knife making steel" but it might be.

The stickies are good stuff. Cheapskate method for making knives, or shade tree knife making are two phrases you could google.



Don't feel like anyone is trying to chase you off.


They are asking for your age/location because of several reasons. The advice you give to a 30 something adult will be different than for a 14 year old kid playing in his dad's garage when he is not around.

Also, trust me, no knife maker wants to send you a message that says "Hey, I only live 4 blocks away, why don't you come over this evening and I will show you some basics" only to find out that you are 14 years old, and have your dad read the message and think they are trolling for kiddies to molest!

Knife makers are, for the most part, very open and willing to teach. I have had several makers invite me over to learn, and offer help.

I did a knife, start to finish, with no power tools (except for the very end when I shaped the handles). I even did the heat treat with a cheap BBQ with an air source and an oil quench, then temper in the oven. It is ugly, but a great little user.





Part of the issue with us is we hear (or ask) the same questions over and over and over and over again.

Here is the tutorial I referred to when I made my first knife (still the only one I have completed) a few years ago.

http://www.knife-making-supplies.net/cheap-knife-tutorial.html

(the original posting is long since lost, but enough people have saved it to keep it alive). I know nothing about the site that has this posted. It is simply the first one I clicked on after googling "cheap skate way to make a knife"

I had no work shop, or desk. I just used a board on two saw horses. I used G11 for the handles, which was much much harder to work by hand than wood would have been (Wear a good mask).

The knife steel will be the cheapest part of making the knife. So you are well served to find a cheap source and just buy a bar of what ever you decide to use.

You don't have to heat treat it your self either. If you make one, you can have some one else heat treat it (or you can do it your self like I did......).

Size comparison (with 3 inch Busse Game Warden)

My leather work has gotten much better as a result of the sheaths forum on here as well!

(note the pocket sheath for the home made knife in the top of this pile of leather sheaths I made).

Just stick to it, and keep reading up.

 

[BM(406)]

Samot.....good job buddy! It might look like a shiv or shank but you are not Jimmy Fikes! You weren't trying to put a hamon on it! Hey, you didn't create conflict by asking a legit question; "Hey guys, I don't know a bunch so I could use some advice about unknown steel and some ideas about heat treating it." The conflict IMHO is when someone asks a legit question and gets trashed for asking it.... I won't say I lost a lil bit-o-respect for the people who gave some of the answers you received, but I will say being concerned about other peoples feelings should be a high priority to all.

That said and out of the way, your scandi tanto could use some help and some offered good advice. Can't member who said it but someone mentioned something about finding out if the steel is hardenable in the first place. So build a fire big enough to give you a bed of coals big enough to fully cover the knife and chuck that bad boy down in the bottom. That will get you close to temp but not quite. Put a piece of the left over steel in it and when you get some color (dull red) blow on the coals or use a hair drier or a fan or what ever until the steel has some bright color and then pull it out and put against a magnet (stereo speaker magnets work great). Does it stick? Repeat till it doesn't then quench as fast as u can in some water. Can you easily break or snap the now cool (and hopefully hardened) piece of steel? If not......chances are it's crap.....um, I mean scrap.....uh I mean crap. If it did harden repeat on your knife. Only this time, try to only make the edge the same color as the other non-magnetic piece and when you quench it, only quench the edge long enough to take out all color so it doesn't break. Set it off to the side until you can hold it in your bare hands then put it on top of the fire (not in the coals--take the hair drier off) for at least 1/2 hour while you drink a beer.

Now your ghetto scandi tanto is something that can be sharpened so take a piece of PVC pipe and get it real hot and stick your knife in it and flatten the pipe out around it to make a sheath! Now find a circular saw blade and cut another knife blank out of it and use the left overs and the fire method above to see if it hardens and repeat (not all circular saw blades are hardenable as some have carbon tips instead of carbon bodies). If you like what you have done, read all the stickies....pay attention to the Counts list....figure out why what happened to your ghetto knives happened. Then, ask more questions. Do research b4 you ask, but don't be afraid to ask. Now go to Aldo's and get some of his 1084!!! Good luck friend!