Who knows the SECRET?

Who knows the secret to making a knife capable of being pounded thru a 1/2" soft steel bolt (Home Depot variety) and NOT break or loose it's edge completely?
Got to be a way to do this.

What steel, what type grind, what heat treat and what tempering process would work?

This is something I have always wanted to do just to satisfy my curosity.
Thanks all of you metal Alchemists out there!
 
Bob-

I don't know if it's possible with a bolt...but, I think if there's a knife out there that will do it; it would be Tom Johanning's integral tanto.

You've probably seen it. I think it starts off as a 6 lb. billet of A-8 modified.

That's the one pushed through STEEL plate in his ad.

Nick
 
bobh,

its a secret
tongue.gif
if we tell ya we gotta kill ya
 
Consider a tool thats made for such a task, a chisel. What kind of steel are they made of? I know they're not very hard, but you can chop right thru a bolt with one.

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Take care!! Michael

Always think of your fellow knife makers as partners in the search for the perfect blade, not as people trying to compete with you and your work!
http://www.nebsnow.com/L6steel
Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms!!!
 
Isn't there such a thing known as a bolt cutter?

Oops! Sorry Tim! It, uh, slipped!!!

ROFL
smile.gif


[This message has been edited by C L Wilkins (edited 12-25-2000).]
 
Bob you and Cliff need to get together. You want to use a knife for something a chisel is designed for, he wants to use a machette for something a hatchet is designed for.

Arthur D. Washburn
ADW Custom Knives
 
There you go being sensible again Beowulf!
smile.gif


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"Come What May..."
 
Not really much of a secret at all. Don't look at accomplishing this from the standpoint of making a knife that will do it, look from the other end...........making the bolt soft enough to do it! We've all seen the ads and such where someone cuts through a bolt, or even a RR spike with a knife......
Here's how they did it...........
Rather than make a super hard edged knife, the individuals simply annealed the daylights out of the spike or bolt, then used a blade with a Rc of 58-60 and "tapped" it through the bolt or spike. The spine gets boogered up from rapping on it, but with a heavy convex grind, the edge doesn't break up or chip away. I only know this because several years ago I thought it would be neat to do, so I set out to do it. At first I was thinking from the knife standpoint, and after a couple of miserably failed attempts, started asking some of the old timers (blacksmiths). They laughed and told me "Look at it from the other end!" Finally I got a couple of them to admit it wasn't that the blade was super hard, but rather that the RR spike was super soft!

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Ed Caffrey "The Montana Bladesmith"
ABS Mastersmith
www.caffreyknives.com
 
That makes perfect sence ED,
I guess I am trying to make things far more difficult than they need to be. I wonder if I could make my chisel look like a knife
biggrin.gif

 
Better make sure the edge of your blade is polished to perfection. I have sharpened literally thousands of knives. One of my tricks was to shave slivers of steel off of a 20 penny common nail, then slice through paper with ease. Most any knife will do this if it has a polished edge. You will also find that any cutting tool that has had the edge polished will sustain less damage under all cutting coditions. Now I'm not going to say this edge is the one you want to dress out a deer or slice a tomato, but your chances of cutting through that bolt just got better. I dont remember for sure but it seems to me that Buck"s advertisement showed the knife cutting through a carridge or stove bolt. Try these, don't go for a grade 5 machine bolt!
 
:
I used the H.I.Bowie and a vise to cut through a 3/8" carriage bolt.
The edge deformed just a bit and with the chakma, A Nepali "steel" that comes with khukuris, I was able to bring the edge back to scary sharp that shaved hair with ease.

The H.I.Bowie is made from Mercedes Benz truck springs which is supposed to be 5160.
Only about 1/2"- 5/8" of the edge is hardened with water poured from a kettle. There is no further drawing or tempering done or required. Most of us think that the heat from the rest of the blade is what draws the edge back from being to hard. Most H.I.Khukuri edges are from 57-60 Rc.
If you're interested a further look at the Himalayan Imports Website has pix of the kamis doing several steps of making khukuris includeing pouring the water.


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>>>>---¥vsa---->®

Each person's work is always a portrait of himself.

---- Samuel Butler.

Khukuri FAQ
Himalayan Imports Website
 
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