Quick-tempering question for steel-bangers

[Daniel Koster]

Knifemaking meets Wilderness Survival
(something a little different from the usual banter)


Let's say you have a short period of time to make a knife and have it ready for use.

You have a piece of hardenable steel and want to forge a quick bevel, harden it and go.

What could you do to do a "quick-temper"?


I know it's not ideal...but the setting would not be ideal either. Take off the engineer hat and think outside the box a bit.


What other methods are there for getting a quick edge that's not too brittle?


First idea that comes to mind is to use a thicker stock of deep hardening medium-carbon steel - to minimize brittleness.


What about an interrupted quench? Would the spine being hot help temper the blade?

If you tempered it "over the forge fire"...a la Tim Lively Unplugged...what's the minimum time you could get away with and still have a decent edge?



Again, I know it's not ideal for getting out all the stress, homogenizing the steel, etc. But if your life depended on it, I guarantee you would not be triple-tempering a blade over a 3 day period while starving to death.

 

[Mark Williams]

You can always tell when a movie involving swords is at the theatre.

After eating my fill of the weakest member of the party...Render their fat down for an edge quench. Use leg bone and sinew for hafting. Stick blade in skull and roast over fire till internal skull temp of 400. Let cool.

 

[Nowicki]

If you don't have time to do it right the first time.....Where will you find the time to do it over????

 

[shane justice]

Dan,

I saw Jim Batson use a pan of hot sand to temper a knife blade...he put the spine in the sand...and let the heat draw toward the edge...worked really well...he said he learned that from an old time smith...

A guy could use a hot rock if he was indeed in a "survival" situation...

Just for starters...

Shane

 

[Daniel Koster]

thanks, Shane!

I guess the trick is a slow trickle of heat over a certain period of time.


Another one I found was to hold the blade by the tang with a pair of hot (cherry) tongs and let the heat seep into the blade until the right colors appeared.

 

[stevomiller]

Dan, the smith that I learned from would heat a scrap piece of heavy square stock in the fire until cherry red, then put the spine of the blade on it and let the colors run from the spine to the edge until the edge was whatever he wanted. Cool, sand off the oxidation and repeat at least once more. Used hay rake tines and other scrap for the blades (1060 I think?).

He taught me to make chisels by heating a few inches up to critical and quenching the last inch or so, then let the residual heat blead into the edge to temper. Not super scientific, but it worked. Must work on blades as well, since that's how the kamis and alot of other 3rd world smiths harden/temper their blades.

 

[shane justice]

THem japanese fellers use a copper block don't they?

I read a million years ago...a hot plate...

Prolly a hundred different right ways to do it....simpler is more better...

Shane

 

[Sweany]

Tempering tongs, if you is civilized.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~***
Just out in the wilderness with only a couple rocks and a goat skin bladder bellows, and the blade stock you just happen to find in the woods.

Just shine up the blade ina pile of sand after quenching in the contents of the goat bladder :barf: .

Hold the blade edge up over the fire and watch the colours run to the edge,( a nice straw maybe if you are skinning more goats) do this nice and slow, cool the blade in the quench media, :barf:
keeping the colors in the edge from going to far up the clour spectrum.

Draw the temper ,the magic number of 3 times and Voila!

Goat chops for Luncheon.