Oak firewood chopping test?

A

adelphos

Joined
Oct 7, 2013
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I am pretty new to the knife making scene and wanted to test my knives. I was wondering if chopping on this piece of firewood seasoned oak 1.5" thick x 4" wide would be a good all around test. Afterwards it still sliced through paper pretty well. Am I doing this right?

P.S. handle was kinda slapped on there for the test I know it looks bad.


bowieoakcut_zps2cb271c5.jpg.html


First picture
if picture does work here is a link: http://s1154.photobucket.com/user/orochemaru/library/?view=recent&page=1
 
Adelphos - chopping hard wood is a way to test the edge strength and test against rolling (to soft) or edge chipping (too hard). If you want to test for edge retention try cutting cardboard, sisal rope, etc.

Bruce
 
Well not all card board is the same.....
Best bet is to try comparing to other knives factory or custom knives to guage the edge retention on your knife.

Maybe tell us a bit about your knife - steel used, heat treat method etc.
 
Another good test is to skin out a moose. If you can skin and short quarter a moose with one knife start to finish with no touch ups, well that is good edge retention in my experience :)
 
Yeah I should have mentioned spec's sorry.

This is 1075 heated in a coal forge to just past non magnetic and quenched in 130 degree F canola oil. Then tempered for 2 hours at 400. According to charts it should be around 59 rc ish. I am sending it to my father in law since he will be butchering a big pig very soon. So I figure if it can go through all of that and be ok my methods are good. If not back to the drawing board i guess
 
The charts are made out of paper. Your knife is made out of steel. They will only have the same readings if the HT was done perfectly. Rc59 is the calculated/theoretical hardness. The only way to know if the blade is actually that hardness is to have it tested.

A coal forge and a magnet are not going to get perfect results, but with care and experience can do HT just fine. Also, non-magnetic is about 100°F too low for 1075. You want it at a full 1500°F. The canola oil should work fine for a small to medium size blade.

From your description of the testing, I would guess the knife will work fine. If there was any major problem, the edge would have chipped, rolled, or become dull fast.
 
I was trying to hit close to 1500. Just had to guess using temp color charts and low light conditions. This blade is 6" and .125" thick is that about max for canola?
 
for heat treating? Just a toaster oven with a oven thermometer to check accurate temps and a firebrick inside to keep temp up between heat cycles. And again a coal forge for heating up for quench.
 
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