Rust is only skin deep !

Robert Dark

Robert Dark

Joined
Aug 27, 2004
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2,525
The "Dandelion" (with a few specs)

Dandelion.jpg


Had a couple of pieces of an old (50's) rusty sawmill blade left and decided to make a quick implement for digging and cutting up dandelions from my lawn. (Thus the somewhat "mundane" handle shape and material)

As always, I never seem be be able to stop at just a quick down and dirty grind, heat treat, and put it to work. Nooooooo..... not me......

This one is 9 1/4" overall with a blade of 4 3/4" from tip to handle. The clip is as sharp as the lower portion of the blade. The texturing on the flats was done by nature (RUST).

Usually, someone will ask:

What is the steel?........... Answer.... I have no idea, probably something similar to 1070 or 1080 with, perhaps a tad of other alloys tossed in.

How did you heat treat it?............Answer... After I annealed it in my Evenheat, I profiled, ground, and soaked in vinegar to clean up some of the excess rust. I normalized 3 times, then soaked @ 1475° for 6 minutes. Queched in Parks 50, ran two tempering cycles at 400°.

Why did you use a sawmill blade rather than a known steel?........Answer....Because I can.

Hope you like................. Robert
 
I like it a lot! The spec tests I have show most of the old saw blades to be something like 1080+2% nickle though I have one that is 8670M(which was easy to tell because it air hardens and wont anneal without a spheroidal anneal..)
I also heat treat just the same way you did..I really like that dimpled, pock mock appearance from those old saw blades on the flats..
 
Haha love it and awesome job on the knife, that "rust" looks cool. I made a knife from a cold saw blade I got from work and did a simple heat treat as you did, and boy does it hold an edge!
 
That's a beaut... As for calling the grip 'mundane'... I like it. Simple, clean, preserves the patina... nice job...
 
Robert- I REALLY like that! :)

The contrast of the super clean bevels with the rust textured flats is very striking. :thumbup: :cool:
 
Thanks for the kind comments gang. I had a lot of fun with this, even though I didn't really know where to stop. As a result, I said to myself, "Self, there ain't no way you are gonna stick that thing in the dirt", so I decided to see if someone might want to do something besides "dandelion" work.

So far, no takers, but I am still not above soughing it off in the dirt. :)

Robert
 
Yesterday, the UPS man delivered a package to me from MT Baker Mercantile. When I opened it, I was surprised to find a "REAL Dandelion Digger.

Which one of you guys sent this to me? If you will own up to it, I will send you payment for it. I looked it up, and they don't give those away.

Robert
digger.jpg
 
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