RC for O1 Cleaver type heavy chopper

[J.McDonald Knives]

1/4" spine and about 2.5" from spine to edge and blade would be about 8" long. what would be a good RC for it? im going to use it cutting thru rib cage and joints wihle cleaning a deer. i was thinking 59RC might be good. bevel would stop half way up the blade and be flat ground.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Jacob, You have to actually make a knife before you worry about what Rc to shoot for.

Most makers who talk about the Rc of their knives either have HT ovens and controlled temperatures (or salt pots) or send them to HT professionals. Otherwise, the final Rc is whatever you get with the HT system you use.

O-1 ,done right, will end up in the 58-59 range. A heavy use blade ,like a cleaver, needs nothing higher.

Quit putzing around with "what do you think about......" ideas and go make a knife. Your first one should be a simple drop point hunter. Forget about starting with some new design ,or machete, or sword. Just start with a plain simple knife. After you have got the procedures down making simple knives, then move on to more complex ideas.

In the same amount of time you spent making 683 posts in less than two months you could have read twenty books,and made twenty knives.

Quit stalling and get to work!!! The next post I want to see is,
"What do you think of my first knife ?"
Stacy

 

[rlinger]

O1 steel chopper: try to hit about 58 HRc.

rlinger
------

 

[Tanguay Custom Knives]

Quit putzing around with "what do you think about......" ideas and go make a knife. Your first one should be a simple drop point hunter. Forget about starting with some new design ,or machete, or sword. Just start with a plain simple knife. After you have got the procedures down making simple knives, then move on to more complex ideas.

In the same amount of time you spent making 683 posts in less than two months you could have read twenty books,and made twenty knives.

Quit stalling and get to work!!! The next post I want to see is,
"What do you think of my first knife ?"
Stacy

Couldn't have said it better. That's the best advice I've heard anyone give you thus far Jacob. I remember this sign that used to hang in my Machine Technology shop. Its been over 25 years and I still remember what it said:

I hear, and I forget
I see, and I remember
I do, and I understand

Its the Gospel Truth.

Use a grinder, use a file, hell use a rock if you have to, but
GO MAKE A KNIFE SON!

 

[KnifeHead]

Jacob, You have to actually make a knife before you worry about what Rc to shoot for.

Most makers who talk about the Rc of their knives either have HT ovens and controlled temperatures (or salt pots) or send them to HT professionals. Otherwise, the final Rc is whatever you get with the HT system you use.

O-1 ,done right, will end up in the 58-59 range. A heavy use blade ,like a cleaver, needs nothing higher.

Quit putzing around with "what do you think about......" ideas and go make a knife. Your first one should be a simple drop point hunter. Forget about starting with some new design ,or machete, or sword. Just start with a plain simple knife. After you have got the procedures down making simple knives, then move on to more complex ideas.

In the same amount of time you spent making 683 posts in less than two months you could have read twenty books,and made twenty knives.

Quit stalling and get to work!!! The next post I want to see is,
"What do you think of my first knife ?"
Stacy

Couldn't have said it better. That's the best advice I've heard anyone give you thus far Jacob. I remember this sign that used to hang in my Machine Technology shop. Its been over 25 years and I still remember what it said:

I hear, and I forget
I see, and I remember
I do, and I understand

Its the Gospel Truth.

Use a grinder, use a file, hell use a rock if you have to, but
GO MAKE A KNIFE SON!

I agree...for the love of God!!!

 

[David Schott]

If you dont have tooling or anything yet, lots can be done by hand. I know youre planning out knives while you wait for the forge and grinder, etc etc. It can be tough to jump in with both feet and go sole authorship on your first piece. The first thing I ever made was this. I bought one of those knifekits.com kits for 50$, bought a block of wood to replace the scales and two pieces of damascus to replace the bolsters and blade, made the blade with a hacksaw and files, HT'd it with mapp gas, and the only tools used were a drill, sandpaper, a bastard file and a torch.
Stock the kits come like this:

Id say its pretty sweet:

Anything is good to get going with! Anything that will get out working metal, fit and finish, etc! Even taking an old knife and rehandling it! Pick a part of the process and start replicating it.

For the chopper, I wouldnt even know what RC to say. I know what RC O1 is supposed to be at when properly Ht'd. I have a digital oven, but no rockwell tester. I rely on performance as a marker. make it, test it for what its supposed to do and re-ht or temper to suit. Chipping under full force blows to a knot? Temper a bit more? Edge folding? Too soft, re-ht....rinse and repeat and i feel like each knife gets better. Cant wait till i have 20+ year under my belt like most guys.

 

[J.McDonald Knives]

point taken guys. thanks for the boot in my butt. wednesday im getting my belts that i ordered and then in going to finish setting up my smithy and get to work on a knife. im also ordering a speed controller this week for my equipment. ill stop posting so much and ill get to work asap. just so yall know the reason why i asked the questions that i did and made most of the posts that i did was to help me understand knifemaking better and and to give me some better ideas on how to do what im wanting to do on making a knife. im going to go apply an ice pack to my butt and will be getting started by the end of the week if not sooner.

also thanks for answering my question about the RC for the chopper.

 

[David Schott]

Gettin' kicked in the butt is what its all about! Sometimes I have to kick myself in the butt to work on knives rather than creating more plans for knives ill never do...more and more lately ive been committing to finishing knives and using materials i have on had as in the past i got caught up starting too many projects and collecting materials without many knives coming out of the shop....thus is the life of a part timer....

 

[jll346]

The boy don't have almost 700 posts since January because he's in the shop making knives!

 

[Diggerdog]

Jason. When you fingers get start to get itchy, Please re-read the last paragraph of Stacy's post.