What exactly is Native Steel?

That's not what I meant, #1081. My question was in reference to whether it's done before or after HT. Wouldn't the grinding wheel take a long time possibly burning the temper of the blade if it were not done prior to HT?

I was confused by all this because by definition "native steel" is: 1. A sort of steel which has been found where a burning coal seam had reduced and carbonized adjacent iron ore.

I also read or heard somewhere that the Yellowhorse Native Steel is patented. But that may or may not have been an accurate source.
 
Last edited:
Dear #1967, My guess would be that the heat treated blade would be ground on the corner of a large (8") carborundum wheel (80 grit or so) with a large pail of cool water at hand. This setup would be quite a bit faster than a Dremel tool. I took the native steel to be a regular steel that had been modified to look like knapped stone. In the confused category, I usually win first prize. I bought a 110 at the Blade Show with a brass and wood handle plus a knapped steel blade. It didn't say Yellowhorse on it. Leroy Remer said he knew how to make knapped steel blades. I knocked the knife apart and put the K/S blade in an embossed 111 Aluminum handle. You can't have too many confusing knives. #1081
 
I took a closer look at the Native steel. The pattern is not as coarse as the one on my knapped steel blade. The pattern could be produced by several methods. Put a photoresist on the blade and deeply acid etch it. Put a heated blade between two dies in a drop hammer. Laser etch the blade like they did the handles of the most recent 111 Aluminum handles. Grind the pattern with the edge of a disc in a Dremel tool. If two blades side by side have identical fingerprints (patternprints), then option 4 is out. Option 2 has a large upfront tooling cost. A computer program could run option 3 with little fuss or cost.
 
I'm going to have to get my hands on one of them, even if only a laser etched wood handle one, just to see what they look like in real life. But then, maybe there's e-bay for a fine one at a reasonable cost.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top