- Joined
- Dec 15, 2009
- Messages
- 1,008
I forgot to take pictures of the actual welding stages, but that's probably pretty boring anyway. I started with 1 bar each of 1080 and 15n20. When I ordered them I wasn't even sure it would be feasible to do with a hand hammer and not with a hydraulic press/power hammer, so I only got 1 of each to make a small billet, if I could. Anyway, it turned out not bad, so I took some pics to share. Please feel free to give any feedback, it's far from perfect but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out for a first try. This is also I think my second blade grind ever.. I put in a bit of a distal taper as well, though the pics don't show it. I apologize for the bad pics, I'll take better ones when it's finished. I had to re-profile a little bit as I overheated a small spot while trying to get up into my plunge lines, but thankfully it was quite small and didn't change too much.
I forgot to mention because I started with 2 bars I stopped at 36 layers as I was cutting and stacking and losing a lot of material in the process. I cut twice and had 6 layers to start, repeated for 18 layers, and then I cut lengthwise once to double it to 36. I also doubled up a 15n20 layer just for fun to change the pattern a bit, rather than alternating evenly. It would have been more pronounced with a higher initial layer count, but I think that is what accounts for the larger 15n20 area on the blade portion.
I used a 3M Cubitron II 80 grit before quench, and Jflex belts 120 220 400 afterwards. I think I might try some Norton Norax belts for finishing before the final etch, I have a 600 and 3000 grit one.. but I want to test it on something else first as I've never used them before.
This is right out of the quench, first time I got to see some of the pattern visible.
These are just two views, one of the whole knife and one of the blade pattern close up. It is flat ground, and finished to 400 grit.
Has just canola oil on the blade to protect it from rusting until I can get it all finished.
I was happier with my plunge lines after the rough grinding than the final grinding, but being such a thin blade I didn't want to get too picky about them, so I left them "OK". Plus this being my second ground knife, I'm still quite pleased with them, they're a large improvement over my last knife.
I used 1 pound of ferric chloride hexahydrate per 1 gallon of distilled water to make the etching solution.. (that stuff takes a long time to dissolve) and let it sit until the next day.
I only etched for 10-15 seconds, to show the pattern. I'm waiting on 1/8" pinstock and I'm going to fit up the handle and grind flush etc, then do a full etch so it's all evenly etched. I may also grind to 600 or higher before the proper etch.
I have a stainless steel pin I was going to use for the handle pins, but I didn't have a drill bit small enough so I made 1/8" holes and will wait.
I haven't decided yet what to use for a handle material.. pretty sure stabilized wood, but I don't want to waste a $40-50 set of scales, I might try to make some small scales from a block I have though.
I want to thank everyone for their advice during this learning process.. I really appreciate it!
I forgot to mention because I started with 2 bars I stopped at 36 layers as I was cutting and stacking and losing a lot of material in the process. I cut twice and had 6 layers to start, repeated for 18 layers, and then I cut lengthwise once to double it to 36. I also doubled up a 15n20 layer just for fun to change the pattern a bit, rather than alternating evenly. It would have been more pronounced with a higher initial layer count, but I think that is what accounts for the larger 15n20 area on the blade portion.
I used a 3M Cubitron II 80 grit before quench, and Jflex belts 120 220 400 afterwards. I think I might try some Norton Norax belts for finishing before the final etch, I have a 600 and 3000 grit one.. but I want to test it on something else first as I've never used them before.
This is right out of the quench, first time I got to see some of the pattern visible.
These are just two views, one of the whole knife and one of the blade pattern close up. It is flat ground, and finished to 400 grit.
Has just canola oil on the blade to protect it from rusting until I can get it all finished.
I was happier with my plunge lines after the rough grinding than the final grinding, but being such a thin blade I didn't want to get too picky about them, so I left them "OK". Plus this being my second ground knife, I'm still quite pleased with them, they're a large improvement over my last knife.
I used 1 pound of ferric chloride hexahydrate per 1 gallon of distilled water to make the etching solution.. (that stuff takes a long time to dissolve) and let it sit until the next day.
I only etched for 10-15 seconds, to show the pattern. I'm waiting on 1/8" pinstock and I'm going to fit up the handle and grind flush etc, then do a full etch so it's all evenly etched. I may also grind to 600 or higher before the proper etch.
I have a stainless steel pin I was going to use for the handle pins, but I didn't have a drill bit small enough so I made 1/8" holes and will wait.
I haven't decided yet what to use for a handle material.. pretty sure stabilized wood, but I don't want to waste a $40-50 set of scales, I might try to make some small scales from a block I have though.
I want to thank everyone for their advice during this learning process.. I really appreciate it!
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I washed it out and dried it thoroughly and just dumped my distilled water in and mixed, has a handy lid and all. However a longer knife I"m going to need a longer tank, or just dilute the mixture and therefore make the liquid deeper. Thank you for the tip! I look forward to seeing your billet! Do you forge? You could try doing one by hand in the mean time, it's not really difficult persay.. just HARD work with the hammer for hours. How's your press coming? I'm still sourcing and gathering parts.
Got a lot of the welding done as well.. I will be starting a new thread shortly on it as well.... I am also building a forge at the same time... SO I havn't even started on making anything yet.. 
Soon I hope....