Making First Knife

T

TATTOOMAN

Joined
Dec 2, 2005
Messages
86
I'm Going To Attemp My First Knife. I'm Going To Use The Stock
Removal Method On 1/8"x1 1/4" O-1 Tool Steel. Will Using A
Charcoal Grill Get The Metal Up To Non-magnetic? Do You Anneal
Before Or After Cutting The Blade Pattern Out? When Hardeneing,
Would It Be Best To Just Quench The Cutting Edge Or Entire Blade?
Any Other Info Or Cautions Would Be Appreciated. Thank You
Randy
 
The O-1 will come precision ground and annealed, most likely. You will not need to soften it. To cut it out, drill holes around the profile and use a hacksaw or juust hacksaw the whole thing out. Then grind it to shape. Next grind your bevels and drill your pin holes. Do all this prior to hardening.

Grind to an edge thickness between a dime and a nickel pre HT. As far as HT goes, i doubt youll be able to get it to non-magnetic in your charcoal grill....but others may tell me I am wrong.

As far as quench goes, either will do fine and you should pick based on your intended use.

There are a number of tutuorials and threads on these topics. Read through the stickies at the top of the forum. Go slow and have fun!
 
You'll need an air source to get the grill hot enough. A hair dryer will work. I've used natural charcoal (not briquettes) in my converted grill. I can't comment on using the grill as is but I lined mine with wood ash and it gets plenty hot enough.

Whether you quench the entire blade or just the edge is up to you. Both have strong and weak points.

Have you considered the quench media? I use old cooking oil myself, others use bought quench oil or motor oil.
 
Thanks For The Info, Tik Tok And Bluegrass.
Bluegrass, How Did You Line The Grill With Wood Ash And Where
Would You Place The Hair Dryer (top, Bottom, Side)? Not Sure
Of Quench Media. I Do Have Several Gallon Jugs Of Used Motor Oil,
If That Will Work. Should It Be Preheated, And If So, To What
Degree? If Anyones Else Has Any Suggestions, I Would Like To
Hear Them. Once Again Thanks For The Info.
Randy
 
Used motor oil will work fine. Thin it a tad with a shot of kerosene. Transmission fluid is better. Heat the blade a little beyond non-magnetic. You will lose some heat getting to the quench. Preheat the quench oil to 125o. DO NOT let the blade hit any part of your oil container when you quench or it will likely break at contact. Quench point down. Normalize at least three times before you quench, and let it soak the heat for a couple of minutes before you quench. Set it in the fire edge up. 01 requires a hotter temp in the temper heat than common steel. I suggest no less than 500o for three, one hour tempers. Use an oven thermometer. Most ovens are not accurate. Use a candy thermometer for the oil. This temper heat should give you about a 58 to 59 Rc. I run mine at 525o. 01 holds an edge very well at any rockwell above 52. Hell, it's aint bad at 52. Good luck, but may I suggest that you get Wayne Goddards books on knifemaking. They are pretty cheap, and full of good info for amatuers making at home.
 
Be carefull not to use to much air, I burned up a nice Bowie blade I made with a gas blower blowing into charcole. The steel is very reactive at high temps and all the extra air can react with the blade and pit it or worse... This is the same heating method I use to melt Aluminum and brass for casting using homemade steel pots. I burned through a few of those also several years ago as I learned the correct method.
 
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