Question about tempering on knifes such as the 119 or 120...

[aza77]

Hi again...

I've got a quick question for all you knife experts out there...(Hopefully after assimilating all your collective knowlege, I too shall be an expert and then vanquish all that came before me).

The question goes something like this...

I've read a couple posts around here about using your 120 to roast some marshmallows or poke a fire or cook some slivers of flesh over an open flame.

Does having your knife in fire at all harm it. For some reason I vaguely remembering that having your knife heated that way can change the tempering of the steel and cause it to become brittle...Am I just going kookoo or something?

Now part b of the question goes something like this...if it does not harm the temper, does it harm the knife cosmetically in anyway...will the steel become blackened or blemished?

Thanks guys and remember....resistance is futile.

 

[Rocinante]

I think that was just kidding around.

Real men kill the bear and then hoist it up above the fire on a spit and use the 120 to carve off huge chunks of meat.

I don't do marshmallows, but I assume they'd be done the same way.

 

[Buckaholic]

I think that was just kidding around.

Real men kill the bear and then hoist it up above the fire on a spit and use the 120 to carve off huge chunks of meat.

I don't do marshmallows, but I assume they'd be done the same way.

Yeah, the marshmallow is a booger to field dress.
Would never hold my knife over a flame for any length of time.

But Aza's question is something that I have wondered about too. I have been guilty of poking fire pit logs and embers with a blade

BTW Aza, sometimes it does leave a bit of carbon/soot on the blade that wipes off easily. Your mileage may vary.

 

[wh4f]

Yeah, the marshmallow is a booger to field dress.
Would never hold my knife over a flame for any length of time.

But Aza's question is something that I have wondered about too. I have been guilty of poking fire pit logs and embers with a blade

BTW Aza, sometimes it does leave a bit of carbon/soot on the blade that wipes off easily. Your mileage may vary.

I don't think poking fire pit logs or embers will hurt the temper in any way.

If you were to heat it up so the steel changed colors or started to turn yellow/orange/red, then it would probably ruin the temper. Brittle? only if it was cooled fast, (thrown in the lake, red hot!) YMMV...
As far as field dressing the marshmallow they are a pain to get off the blade once melted and stuck on.