Hello All. I am making a knife out of 1/4" w2 tool steel. It is going to be used pretty hard as a bushcraft/chopper. My question is weather or not to harden the full tang? I have drilled holes in the handle to lighten it a little but none too close to the ricasso.
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Tang hardening
- Thread starter hdmc1974
- Start date
BluntCut MetalWorks
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2012
- Messages
- 3,476
I think, a fully hardened blade with spring tempered from blade neck (ricasso) to entire tang would be a good (if not best) over all for majority of blades. Handle material stiffness and front fastener(s) also play an important role if there are regular lateral flexes via the handle in hard use (e.g. flex handle to loosen a stucked/binded blade - not a great technique but I am guilty of doing that ... sometime).
Consider other extreme scenarios:
1. annealed/pearlitic tang - could end up with a bend blade neck, LOL need a strong arm or stomp on before bending 1/4" section.
2. same hrc as edge - will provide additional stiffness (could be useful for cord-wrap handle). Again, 1/4" thick is very strong unless lateral slap the blade at the neck (could be dangerous and gonna be painful in the hand
)
Consider other extreme scenarios:
1. annealed/pearlitic tang - could end up with a bend blade neck, LOL need a strong arm or stomp on before bending 1/4" section.
2. same hrc as edge - will provide additional stiffness (could be useful for cord-wrap handle). Again, 1/4" thick is very strong unless lateral slap the blade at the neck (could be dangerous and gonna be painful in the hand
)