The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
I would prefer the template method as i prefer to have control on the whole time and cost of the process. Maybe i could normalize the knife i already own and then heat treat it again at a higher rockwell. Would this work or will it mess up the structure of the steel you think?
We all have it coming kid (Will Munny to Schoefield Kid)Nice one!
I'll experience it first hand, i guess...yes i deserve what's coming to me!
ETA: If you do not have a time and controlled temperature heat treating furnace you can ruin a properly heat treated blade and do you have a Rockwell hardness tester or just guessing based off internet information.....
What difference will make couple Rockwell's , anyway ?
You could always get a small bar of something such as CPM 10V with very high wear/abrasion resistance and grind out a few of the same template tangs for the same knife to within .010" around the perimeter of the finished shape, then send them out to Peters HT and request they be heat treated to the highest hardness available. After HT you can finish shaping them to the precise profile and dimensions of the tang, even finely dialing them in by hand sanding if needed. This way you'll have a few extras in the exact same size, so if for some reason one eventually began to wear a little bit you could switch to a fresh one, and/or you could use them to make sure the one you're currently using continues to match the original profile, as well as to check your scales against while after shaping one the used template. If you weren't already planning on it, I would definitely use an the actual tang (or folder liner) of the production knife you plan on making scales for to make the first template(s) from to make sure Just one idea.
You gotta start somewhere and you won't personally now exactly what else you might want or need dial in the process until you at least try a few sets of scales, so I see no reason not to give it a go with the set up you plan on using. It will take a bit more work and time than if using a CNC, but you're obviously already aware of that, and as long as you have a reliable template to use I can't see why it couldn't work.
I hope to see some pictures after you get set up and make a pair.BTW, if ya don't mind me asking, which knife do you plan on trying to make scales for first?
~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Just some older videos of some knives I've made in the past)