What do you do with...

WalterDavis

WalterDavis

Joined
Nov 23, 2005
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What do you guys do with those (few and far between:D) knives that you mess up? Are they give aways, shop knives, testers, scrap, what do you do:confused:

I only asked because I just noticed, after tempering and grinding the scale off, that my first tanto had a pretty severe warp:eek::foot:. I really don't know how to fix it, it's the first time I've had this problem, so I may just wrap the handle and see what it will stand up to. I had planned on keeping this one, but since it would take a lot of epoxy to fill in the gaps from the warping I'll probably use it as a tester.

So, where do your mistakes end up?

Walter
 
If it is cosmetic and not structural, I use them for testers, eventually I will break them and check out the grain structure. I dont normally give them away. Any knife that I have out there is advertising for me, and I dont want bad advertising.
 
Why not reheat treat it and double check and straighten after quench? I just had a problem with a large knife warping after heattreat and thanks to the advice of a few people I was able to get it straightened out.

I never give away sub-par knives. Like Matt says, anything with my name on it is advertising.
 
I agree with the above suggestions also. If you haven't tested very many blades, this would be a great one to test with. Use and abuse it to test toughness, ability to retain and edge, etc. Eventually break it to check out the grain structure.

You could take it to a seasoned knifemakers shop after cutting and chopping stuff with it. It's too valuable to put in a scrap bin and shouldn't leave your shop for the reasons listed above.

If it can be saved, that would be great, but since it wasn't going to leave your shop anyhow, why not learn from it?
 
scottickes said:
I agree with the above suggestions also. If you haven't tested very many blades, this would be a great one to test with. Use and abuse it to test toughness, ability to retain and edge, etc. Eventually break it to check out the grain structure.

You could take it to a seasoned knifemakers shop after cutting and chopping stuff with it. It's too valuable to put in a scrap bin and shouldn't leave your shop for the reasons listed above.

If it can be saved, that would be great, but since it wasn't going to leave your shop anyhow, why not learn from it?
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After typing this response I inadvertently tested one of my knives. I had heat treated it three times, and it always had a slight bend in it. I finally decided to try and straighten it right out of the quench. Trust me when I say that it was definitely hard. I tried to bow it back the opposite way by flexing it in my hands. It shattered into three pieces in my hand and when the tip end hit the concrete, the tip broke off too.

A lesson was learned on this one. It was definitely hard. Also, I'm a strong man! Or, shall I say, it impressed the daylights out of my wife and a friend who was over watching me. They still can't believe that I broke steel with my bare hands. I tried to explain how it was possible, but they just didn't understand.

I'm a he-man now!!!
 
Finish them, quick chord wrap handle, test them, break them. look at the grain and observe the performance and write EVERYTHING in a notebook. Then harden the whole blade, break it up into small peices and drop them into the "tamahagane/canned damascus" box for future use:D.
 
I've never made any mistakes! I have, however made quite a few knives that were a good bit shorter and/or differently shaped than they had started out!:D
Seriously though, the time you will spend re-HTing your blade will be quite a bit less than making a new one. Just heat it to critical and clamp it down to a bar until cool, and then try again. Even if it takes a couple of times, it will still be faster than making another....
Lotsa luck!:thumbup:
Matt Doyle
 
I think it's important to keep one of your knives every now and then... at least one finished knife a year so you can look back at your work.
If I have a knife that comes out of heat treat wrong and I cant seem to fix it it gets tested and then goes to the swamp.:cool: Bad forgings etc. end up in the woods or swamp as well.
Don't let me catch you in my swamp Sam!:D

Walter, I say test it. What steel are you using?
Mace
 
Use them to do dumb things with. Scraping dried epoxy off garage floor or cutting whatever around the house. Use them to grind and practice and change the shape on.
 
Yeah, it's definitely going to be a tester. I went ahead and etched it and it came out with some really cool hamon activity (for me, anyway), and I want to see how it performs.

Mace, it's 1075/1080 from Admiral. I bought a bunch of it, figuring it would be tough steel, easy to work with, and hard to screw up. So far it seems like I was right! Of course, now that I've got it pretty well figured out I'm almost out and switching to some 1095 and 5160!

Thanks for the input, all! Now, when I break it what am I looking for :D ?

Walter
 
I do it a little different myself. I make sure my mark is destroyed and then take it to shows destined to hide under the table. The first young buck that comes along and drools over my knives that you just know he can't afford I tell him I've got a special knife I'd sell for whats in his pockets with his fathers permission. I tell them straight up what the glitch is but feel it's just a shame to destroy a good knife when someone could use it. Who knows what adventures that knife and boy will face. You should see the fathers face when his son buys his first "real" knife.
 
Throw it into the box and when the box is full sinter it with powdered steel into organic damascus.
 
Try this. You have nothing to lose. Polish/sand in the area of the warp. Put the blade an inch or so in the vise, heat the spine in the area of the warp being careful to keep the heat color from going to the edge. When you get a dark straw at the spine over flex the blade a tad, hold there, and pour water on it. You may have to repeat, but it will come straight. A Bill Moran trick that does work! If you do not trust the knife afterwards, then use it however you want, but at least try it.
 
Mace said:
If I have a knife that comes out of heat treat wrong and I cant seem to fix it it gets tested and then goes to the swamp.:cool: Bad forgings etc. end up in the woods or swamp as well.
Don't let me catch you in my swamp Sam!:D

Mace
Click to expand...

I'll remember to bring my black clothes and camo facepaint, and shovel to the hammer in up there, hope I don't dig up any questionable bones:D.
 
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