Making a plunge line jig

KnuckleDownKnives

KnuckleDownKnives

Time to make the doughnuts..
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Feb 12, 2015
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I'm wanting to make a jig for my plunge lines. The simple 2 pieces of metal screwed together. from some of the post's I've read in the past which of course I can't find again, they are made from hardened steel. One person I remember mentions O1. Well I don't have any O1, and don't really want to buy some just to make something this small. I'm sure it would be nice having some around, but I don't really have the cash to buy $100+ piece of O1, let alone I am not set up to HT O1 for the soak times I've read it requires.

Do you all think I could make a set out of 1084, HT them and just to a light temper on it say maybe 200*. Or maybe don't temper them at all, I would just need to be very careful not to drop them.

Or, I have some old files I already have annealed I could cut, drill, tap and HT. What are ya'lls thoughts with what I have would be the best way to make a set.
 
You can make them from any hardenable metal 1084 would be fine. Harder and more wear resistant metals, like O-1 and D-2, will last a little longer, but that isn't a big enough issue to make one metal supreme over the others.

Make them up, bolt tightly together, and grind the faces flush before HT. Lap the faces flat and clean of de-carb after HT.

A temper of around 300F would be good. This will remove some brittleness, but almost no hardness.
 
Mine have carbide plates attached to the steel. Cant even damage them with my grinder. They also have two holes drilled with hardened pins so you know the two surfaces are parallel at all times. I suppose you could use 1084 but not use it on the grinder as I believe a belt will still damage hardened 1084. I got mine from Bill Behnke.
 
You can make them out of aluminum.

Just JB weld harden steel on the face.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
You can make them from any hardenable metal 1084 would be fine. Harder and more wear resistant metals, like O-1 and D-2, will last a little longer, but that isn't a big enough issue to make one metal supreme over the others.

Make them up, bolt tightly together, and grind the faces flush before HT. Lap the faces flat and clean of de-carb after HT.

A temper of around 300F would be good. This will remove some brittleness, but almost no hardness.
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Awesome, thanks Stacy. That's what I was hoping to hear as far as the metal. I was thinking a low temper degree would be just enough to take out the brittleness and leave as much hardness in as possible. How long at 300 would you recommend?
 
BKT said:
Mine have carbide plates attached to the steel. Cant even damage them with my grinder. They also have two holes drilled with hardened pins so you know the two surfaces are parallel at all times. I suppose you could use 1084 but not use it on the grinder as I believe a belt will still damage hardened 1084. I got mine from Bill Behnke.
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I would love a set like Bill makes, but $80 is more than I can to spend right now, that's a lot of money I could use for belts.
 
I took an angle bracket and cut the two pieces off each side. it worked for a few knives as a test of if I liked it. I did and bought a Bill Behnke model. Worth the money to me.
 
pleasanthill said:
Awesome, thanks Stacy. That's what I was hoping to hear as far as the metal. I was thinking a low temper degree would be just enough to take out the brittleness and leave as much hardness in as possible. How long at 300 would you recommend?
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Standard tempering - 300F, twice, at one hour each. If fully hardened in the original quench, that will yield Rc65.
 
kdogmcg said:
I took an angle bracket and cut the two pieces off each side. it worked for a few knives as a test of if I liked it. I did and bought a Bill Behnke model. Worth the money to me.
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Yeah, I'll probably break down and get a set after a while, I just have too many other more important supplies to purchase right now. Ordering my stencils, need to get some assortments of handle materials, pin materials, more belts, make a better quenching tank, small wheel set, 8" grinding wheel, respirator....

Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Standard tempering - 300F, twice, at one hour each. If fully hardened in the original quench, that will yield Rc65.
Click to expand...

Thanks again Stacy.
 
I've got one that I can send you and you can have for free., it's out of mild steel but will get you going
I had it made here at work and I don't use it anymore since I bought a carbide file guide.

if you will send me your address I'll mail it tomorrow.

I actually just learned about the value of a carbide file guide and how to use it.
I think it's in the top 5 tools to have,certainly in the top 10 for a knifemaker.

Tools help make you money, especially good quality ones,
 
O1 is slightly more expensive than simple steels like 1084, but it shouldn't be THAT expensive. Last I checked, it was less than $3 per linear inch of 1/4" x 2" stock. Also, for such a simple/small piece that is not being used as a knife anyways, I think it would be perfectly fine if you did a rudimentary heat treat on it without any special equipment. But yeah...1084 would work just as well.
 
The one I made using 2 1/4" socket head bolts out of scrap O1 works, but I can never get a 100% perfect alignment. There is play, extremely minute, along a thousandth, maybe a couple/three thousandths. You can square the face, but that doesn't matter because it will not line up exact when you crank it down on a blade.

I highly recommend using 4 1/4" bolts, or use 2 bolts and 2 pins. The recent tutorial Walter Sorrels put up on YouTube is an excellent commentary on making a file guide.

Make sure it is tempered, 300F for an hour is plenty.
 
Carbide us the way to go IMHO as you can use it with a belt grinder. What I do is just grind the bevel a little forward of the plunge and then when the bevels are done I come back and cut the plunge. I use the edge of the platen/belt to grind it in. Just have to take it real slow and you're good to go. It's a nice thing to be able to do.

Some of those carbide file guides are pretty expensive. Good luck and let me know if you find a real good deal on them.
 
I think what I may end up doing is eventually buying some carbide strips and attaching them to some homemade ones. Just checked out one place and 1/16" x 3/8" x 6" strip in C2 carbide is only $9.99. They sell other sizes upon request so getting something like that in half should be much different. As long as they don't have a minimum order, I should be good to go.
 
The Bill Behnke was the best price i have seen on carbide faced ones. And it is very well made in my opinion. The main bars are aluminum. If I could make one myself ( I don't think i can surface the carbide faces without a diamond abrasive) I would make one with hardened steel bars. That way you can use the non-carbide face to file shoulders on a tang without tearing up your files. Since I don't make many hidden tang knives it's not much of an issue for me. The carbide just laughs at a 40 grit ceramic belt.
 
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