My first knife tonight was a disaster. My bevels were not good at all and I heated up the tip too much and it turned black and rugged. Figures.... First time is the worst I hear. lol I just tried to see what beveling was like before I tried on a sketched out blade. I tried on a 9" piece of 1084.
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New to Knife making
- Thread starter thor5624
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My first knife was Butt Ugly! LOL . Learn what you can improve for the next one. Check for hammer in’s etc in your area to meet & chat with other makers.
Josh Rider
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David W Babcock
Black Metal Forge
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Kevin Cashens site has very good heat treat and metallurgical info. He’s also on a few YouTube videos but he breaks it down for the non scientific person quite well, in fact he has explained some things through forums that made more sense of the why and how than the teachers who I took a couple year metallurgy university course on!
with 1080/1084 due to a couple of alloys more present the warm canola will work but not as well as a high speed like parks or Houton. 1075 and 1095 are shallow hardening steels, you can also differentially heat treat and produce some beautiful hamons on those steels, but water/brine although they will produce the hardest blade, put such stresses that thin sections of steel (a knife for example vs a larger thicker 2” piece) will be more prone to cracking and waste your time and money. Some try dipping water then into the oil right away after, but your best bet is a parks 50 type product!
you need to get the steel from austinizing temp (approx 1475) to down under 900-800 degrees within a second or two. It can be cooled slower after that (it’s a continuous curve I think Kevin Cashen or Knifenerds etc do some google searches) but I always leave my steel in the oil for a good ten count. The blade is still hot enough this way (use welder gloves) that you can straighten if a small warp occurs from the cooling stresses, then I’ll rinse with water wipe down and immediately into the tempering oven!
with 1080/1084 due to a couple of alloys more present the warm canola will work but not as well as a high speed like parks or Houton. 1075 and 1095 are shallow hardening steels, you can also differentially heat treat and produce some beautiful hamons on those steels, but water/brine although they will produce the hardest blade, put such stresses that thin sections of steel (a knife for example vs a larger thicker 2” piece) will be more prone to cracking and waste your time and money. Some try dipping water then into the oil right away after, but your best bet is a parks 50 type product!
you need to get the steel from austinizing temp (approx 1475) to down under 900-800 degrees within a second or two. It can be cooled slower after that (it’s a continuous curve I think Kevin Cashen or Knifenerds etc do some google searches) but I always leave my steel in the oil for a good ten count. The blade is still hot enough this way (use welder gloves) that you can straighten if a small warp occurs from the cooling stresses, then I’ll rinse with water wipe down and immediately into the tempering oven!
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