Good morning! I have my Grandfather's old pocket knife pictured below that I would like to "modernize" a bit to make it more appropriate for daily use. If possible, I would really appreciate help on addressing the following items:
1 - I would like to upgrade the blade steel to MagnaCut. The blade is kind of rusty, so I assume it is 1095. I don't want to replace the blade, since my Grandfather actually used it, I just want to upgrade the steel to MagnaCut. Looking at alloy tables online, it seems as though I need to significantly increase the amount of chromium in the steel as well add some nitrogen and niobium and tweak some other elements. I found chromium powder on Amazon, but where do people source their niobium from? How do you get the additional elements into the blade to make it a different alloy? If I soak the knife in liquid nitrogen, will that increase the nitrogen content?
2 - I can't find the flipper tab on the knife. I've been opening it by putting my fingernail in the micro blood groove on the top of the blade, but it feels really primitive. My plan was to cut the full length back spacer up near the blade and somehow attach a flipper tab to the blade. I was thinking that I could just super glue it in place. Does this sound like a reasonable plan?
3 - Finally, the blade edge is much too thin. It slices through things with much more ease than I am accustomed to. I cut an apple with it and it just cut it right in half. I am more used to knives wedging apples apart. I am also concerned that the tip will not hold up to daily tactical abuse my suburban office life generates. I was trying to think of how to address this and read about "San Mai" steel. It seems like an obvious solution as I could just put a cladding around the current blade to make it thicker. What material should I use for cladding? Can I use timascus? How do I apply it?
Will I have to disassemble the knife for any of these mods? I can't find any torx screws, so I don't think it is possible to take it apart. What sort of tools do you think I will need? I have screw drivers (flat and phillips head - normal sized ones, those tiny ones that come with eye glass repair kits, and some surprisingly big ones), one of those carpenter triangle things, and a fire pit in the backyard if I have to do any forging. I can get more screw drivers pretty easily if I need more. Thanks for the help everyone. If this goes well, maybe I'll get into the modding business!
1 - I would like to upgrade the blade steel to MagnaCut. The blade is kind of rusty, so I assume it is 1095. I don't want to replace the blade, since my Grandfather actually used it, I just want to upgrade the steel to MagnaCut. Looking at alloy tables online, it seems as though I need to significantly increase the amount of chromium in the steel as well add some nitrogen and niobium and tweak some other elements. I found chromium powder on Amazon, but where do people source their niobium from? How do you get the additional elements into the blade to make it a different alloy? If I soak the knife in liquid nitrogen, will that increase the nitrogen content?
2 - I can't find the flipper tab on the knife. I've been opening it by putting my fingernail in the micro blood groove on the top of the blade, but it feels really primitive. My plan was to cut the full length back spacer up near the blade and somehow attach a flipper tab to the blade. I was thinking that I could just super glue it in place. Does this sound like a reasonable plan?
3 - Finally, the blade edge is much too thin. It slices through things with much more ease than I am accustomed to. I cut an apple with it and it just cut it right in half. I am more used to knives wedging apples apart. I am also concerned that the tip will not hold up to daily tactical abuse my suburban office life generates. I was trying to think of how to address this and read about "San Mai" steel. It seems like an obvious solution as I could just put a cladding around the current blade to make it thicker. What material should I use for cladding? Can I use timascus? How do I apply it?
Will I have to disassemble the knife for any of these mods? I can't find any torx screws, so I don't think it is possible to take it apart. What sort of tools do you think I will need? I have screw drivers (flat and phillips head - normal sized ones, those tiny ones that come with eye glass repair kits, and some surprisingly big ones), one of those carpenter triangle things, and a fire pit in the backyard if I have to do any forging. I can get more screw drivers pretty easily if I need more. Thanks for the help everyone. If this goes well, maybe I'll get into the modding business!
I only read the first few lines , now I read to the end ................the best April Fool's joke so far 
