Quenching a dagger?

David Stifle

David Stifle

Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
10,188
Hi Guys,

How can I quench a dadger without hardening the entire blade? Would putting clay down the spine keep it softer so the blade would flex? Would sincerely appreciate any advice.The steel is 5160.

Thanks,

Dave
 
I have no experience on daggers so I'm sorry if what I say is wrong: As far as I know the flex issue is never about the hardness but thickness. The ability to flex to an angle is another subject but the differential hardening is only applicable to shallow hardening steels not to deep hardening ones like 5160.
As for clay method for daggers I suppose the clay applied to the middle section of dagger...
 
With 5160.....no, clay wouldn't accomplish much as that's a deep hardening
steel....would harden under the clay.

The best way to harden only the edge on 5160, is to only heat the edge.
This would need to be done in a forge and is skill challenging even on a
single edged blade.

How wide/long is the blade..?
 
Haven't made it yet, Russ. In fact, it would be only be my second one. the width, as I envision it, will be around 1.25" and it will be about 7.5-8" L.should I go with a 10X steel, rather then 5160?

Dave
 
Russ Andrews said:
With 5160.....no, clay wouldn't accomplish much as that's a deep hardening
steel....would harden under the clay.

The best way to harden only the edge on 5160, is to only heat the edge.
This would need to be done in a forge and is skill challenging even on a
single edged blade.

How wide/long is the blade..?
Click to expand...

Like Russ says you pretty much need a shallow hardening steel to do this and then it will take some experience to pull it off.

Yes 10xx or W steel
Bob
 
In a dagger, I don't think flexibility that important. Most daggers have a fairly substantial profile and the profile makes them inherently rugged up around the ricasso area.

The tip is a different story. Since they are usually thin and pointy, they break easily, if too hard and they don't flex enough.
Daggers are most functional, when they have good stress relief and are not overly hard. After all they are a stabbing weapon with good penetration the purpose.
A dagger with a Rockwell of 56 at the tip, will outlast one with a 60 rating.

Hardening the entire blade and then reliving the area around the ricasso with a torch, or doing it with clay will both work to keep that area ductile.

Fred
 
David,
Yes....if the hamon is important, go with a 10XX steel.
You'll end up with a more satisfactory hamon, with or
without using clay.

added...or W1,2
 
Thank you, Bob, Russ and Fred,

I'm starting it this weekend. Hope I end up with something nice to post soon.

Dave
 
I'm just a newbie, but in the ABS Intro class I took, we were differentially heat treating 5160 blades with an acetylene torch. Its tricky because you have to keep the torch moving, trying to get an even heat along the blade before its quenched. I have a full tang knife blade in 5160 heat treated this way by an ABS Master bladesmith and it has a very nice hamon to it, which is very difficult with 5160.

Same theory should apply to a dagger. The trick would be to get both sides of the dagger heated evenly at the same time. I'll have to try this and see if I can make it work.
 
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