Making my first knife

Irezumi

Irezumi

Joined
Mar 1, 2006
Messages
1,357
Hey guys,

Just got an 8 inch grinder so started grinding some 1055 carbon into a short sword. The steel was sold to me as annealed, and yesterday the grinder cut into it easily (making a chisel grind sword). The steel did get hot though, and I had to hold the steel wrapt in a t-shirt to keep working (there was a lot of purple going on there also). Anyway, went back to it today and I am certain I have hardened the steel as the grinder prefers to bounce off the steel a lot more. I also drilled some holes in the tang which was very difficult to do, in fact it burnt the drill bit. So the entire piece is hardened, not just the edge that touched the grinder.

Have I stuffed the steel now or can it still be heat treated properly? Also, I plan on getting a multitool for the grinder which is like a linisher attachment that takes belts like a belt sander. How can I ensure that I dont accidentally harden the steel for next time? The grinder does not have variable speed either.

Thanks
 
I do not think you hardened the steel with an 8 inch grinder, not unless your blade was glowing brightly. my bet is that you glazed your wheels. your grinder should have a wheel dressing tool you can use to refresh your stone surface.
-Page
 
It's pretty much not possible to harden 10 series steel in that manor, I'd guess that it was not full annealed. 10 series steel is kind of a pain to drill sometimes, it seems that it's often annealed only to "acceptable" machinability. There could be some work hardening going on as well?

You won't have any trouble heat treating the steel when it comes time, nothing is wrong with it.
 
Thanks guys...appreciate that. I was hoping it wasnt ready for the bin as I have spent a bit of time on it :) ....
 
One thing that concerns me is that you are using a tee shirt to insulate against the blade. WAY too much material just waiting to get pulled into that grinder along with your hand. So my suggestion to you is to NOT do that!

Many of us don't even use gloves around power equipment. When you do, make sure you're careful about it. I've seen guys loose part of their hands in something as "innocuous" as a drill press, let alone a rapidly spinning stone wheel in a tightly enclosed shell. Get a big bucket of water and dunk the blade when it starts getting warm. You'll introduce less stress into the steel, and you won't have to worry about having your hand sucked into the machinery.

As for the grinding, definately get a dressing too (looks like several toothy little wheels on a handle) and re-dress the grinding wheel. It gets clogged up with junk pretty fast and won't do much cutting. And when drilling, make sure you're using some sort of cutting fluid/oil at a low speed with pauses when the bit gets hot (smoke coming from the oil).

--nathan
 
If your having trouble drilling it you probably either over heated your drill bit or dulled it. Even when its not annealed 10xx is pretty easy to drill with Ti coated blades.

Get a bucket and fill it with water, dunk the blade when ever it starts turning golden or you can feel the heat. Even when my shop/garage is zero degrees and my hands are wet from dunking the blade I won't wear gloves, its just too dangerous.

-Dan
 
I'm glad silver_pilate already said it. I kind of freaked a little when I read the T-shirt part. Just don't use gloves or rags or anything like that when doing this work. At the most, I will occasionally put a couple wraps of masking tape around my finger tips. It might take a little longer, but having all your fingers are worth it.

I agree with everyone else about glazing the grinding wheel. The harder wheels last longer and glaze quicker. Softer wheels wear down fast and don't really glaze over. It's all kind of a trade off.
 
Most of us grind barehanded so we know when the steel is getting hot. Too hot to hold=time for the bucket of water.

To reiterate what everyone else said. DON'T WRAP THE BLADE IN SOMETHING GRABBY NEAR ROTATING EQUIPMENT! :eek:
 
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