Kinda stuck here

grease-man

grease-man

Joined
Apr 9, 2006
Messages
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Here's a couple of pics from a "binge" I got to go on a couple of weeks ago. I am, however, kind of stuck right now. The bottom two blades warped in the HT. Not too bad though, only about 1/8 to 3/16 in the handle areas. The steel is O-1. Should I straighten them then re-HT? Or use a torch and "tweak" them straight? The numbers on the blades were from where my dad Rockwell tested them in several spots. 56.5 was not quite where I wanted the blade on the middle knife. Re HT'ing them after straightening them wouldn't do them any harm, would it? Any opinions or thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks. -Matt-

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This one is a close up of my first knife from '04. It sucks, but I gotta keep it around to learn from! :p

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This one is a pic of my 2 pc. burglar alarm system! :D My two Boxers, Apache on the left and Cheyenne on the right! Don't ask me why I posted this pic, I just know how you guys like pics!

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It occurred to me upon re-reading my post, that I forgot to post a pic that showed the other stuff I did on my "binge". Please forgive me :o. The pic of the train wrecks in progress is just after the HT of a couple I had been working on. -Matt-
 
Matt
Just heat them up as if to re-heattreat them. Pull them out, check for straightness, correct, bring back up to temp and quench as usual. Trying to "tweak" them now will surely result in a broken blade, even @ 56Rc.
Matt
 
mdoyle said:
Matt
Just heat them up as if to re-heattreat them. Pull them out, check for straightness, correct, bring back up to temp and quench as usual. Trying to "tweak" them now will surely result in a broken blade, even @ 56Rc.
Matt
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help Matt! I was kind of hoping to avoid having to do the whole process over again, but I guess they all can't turn out right the first time. Neither knife will ever see the light of day, cuz I already screwed up the grinding portion of one and the other is a test blade to go all Frankenstein on. Gonna finish them for practice though and things line up better when they are straight! ;)



Louis...Apache is the one of the tallest Boxers I have ever seen! 75 lbs of pure power! He is a baby though. Cheyenne is the one you have to watch. She ain't wrapped too tight! :D -Matt-
 
This is how I straighten blades.

Re-heat to critical/non magnetic.

Lay the blade on a flat surface such as a concrete floor.

smack it flat with a straight 2x4. (The wood will catch fire very quickly so make it fast)

You can use your anvil, but be quick before the anvil draws the heat out of the blade.

Let it cool on it's own.

Re heat and re quench.
 
May I suggest that you do not quench the handle area. Only just a little above the blade. There is no real need to have the grip section hardened. As far as a warped blade, or even the grip, you can straighten these by hand if you do it within the first five, to ten minutes from the quench, with 01. You have maybe five minutes with 1095, or similar steels. You can correct warp after temper by heating the spine in the warped area to a straw color, over flex a tad, and pour water on it.
 
Thanks Matt, Dave and LRB, it certainly gives me more to think about. I'll have to print this thread and keep it for future reference. -Matt-
 
Grease-man, once you straighten the blades, normalize them once. that will help keep them from warping back the same way again. If you straighten the blade you may set up some stresses, the normalizing cycle should eliminate them

Ken
 
I'm glad you brought that up Ken! I hadn't thought about that aspect of it, but it makes perfect sense. I'll give it a go and see what happens. Thanks. -Matt-
 
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