opinions PLEASE

[Justin Howell]

Here is a pic of the first three knives I have almost ready to send to the heat treater. I just need to drill the rivet holes and and adhesive holes in the tangs and are are ready to go. Got a question though. Since making the Skinner on the bottom,(by accident due to not leaving the spare on the tip for grinding the drop point), I made the drop point in the middle and the the kitchen knife on top. The two on top were finished with a belt of 500 grit and you can see the difference in the shine. But they developed tis strange discoloration in the blade while doing this. It really isn't a different color but it looks like a layer or something. I do not know if heat caused it or what but I ground them gloveless and while it did get warm, it was never to warm to touch. Has this ever happened to you guys? I was wanting to get 8 or 10 blades ready to send at one time but need your opinions so I do not ruin this stock .

The steel is 1084 from ALdo and I am in no way suggesting that there is something wrong with it. I can assure you that if there has been any wrong it was caused by me. Just wanting your expierence and suggestions on what this might be. BTW, all the knives are concave ground with a single bevel on the sharpening edge. I hope the pic is good enough to see the discoloration. God Bless and thanks.

 

[james terrio]

Relax.

Your knives appear to be convex-ground, not "concave" (hollow).

Minor discoloration of the steel is probably not a big deal at this point. Make sure the edges are at least .020" before sending out for HT. I commend you for sending them to a pro HT shop; ask them to do a stress-relief cycle before hardening and tempering. That should alleviate any problems from grinding too hot.

 

[Robert Dark]

What James said. Don't forget to get your handle/lanyard holes where they need to be prior to heat treat.

You will have a certain amount of "clean-up" to do when you get them back from the heat treat folks. It may not be much, but rarely do they come back the same color as when you shipped them.

If you left your edges a little thick, as James suggested, just remember that after heat treat, you have to go slow and cool when grinding to the final thickness.

Be sure to show us the finished product(s).

Best Wishes,

Robert

 

[Remyrw]

All of the above. You probably got the edge area hot enough to discolor, essentially tempering it, but the heat never made it further down the blade to your fingertips. That's the danger when working with thin areas after heat treating, they are easy to overheat fast. Since you're still pre-ht, no worries.

 

[Don Nguyen]

Sometimes when I dip the blade into water, I'm lazy and don't wipe it off, and then it rusts on there. For me, that's the main reason why my blades discolor.