Would you heat treat this?

[Core Knife Co.]

I already picked your brains and received a lot of help during my first attempt. I kind of made a deal with myself that I wasn't going to keep bugging everyone here to ask you to walk me through everything, over and over. But, I lied. I'm stumped. This is number 2. Cut with a hacksaw and product removed with a file. I've been working on draw filing, as suggested. I just can't figure out how to get the detail. The plunge line for example.

So I had the bevel shaped and realized it was still too fat. If you look at the picture below, you can see how fat it is in the center of the blade. Now I'm trying to accomplish a true, I guess it's called apple-seed convex? Still, I want it to slice, unlike my first.

Here is the before picture.

So I went back in with the file and took a lot of material out. I think I'm happy with the shape now.

I'm trying to get the angle at the plunge cleaned up. I've tried wrapping my paper in a piece of micarta. A piece of leather. I just don't seem to get the finish I see here in the WIP threads. Some of my problem seems to be the files marks in that small angle. But overall, I think I'm happy with it and wonder if I should take this any further? I plan on finishing it off with ferric chloride on the blade and natural micarta scales.

Is it time for heat treat or am I way off?

EDIT: In the pictures the scratch patterns look way deeper than in person. Sitting on my desk, the knife has a very clean matte finish look to it. You would never think that from the pictures I posted.

 

[Frank Niro]

I believe there are a lot of times when we must decide for ourselves if this or that is good enough. The reason being that without the knife in your hand it is difficult to figure what is what and you may like something more than the person you ask. From what I can see , I figure some good sanding is now needed and then the heat treat can be done. Convex blades are very effective in use. I also recommend if you have a drill press to drill a bunch of holes in the handle to lighten it up some. You certainly have put a lot of work into this one. Some doing the hand filing thing make or get a file holding jig to keep things flat. As well sharp files can help a lot.Frank

 

[Robert Mayo]

To add to what Frank has said you should sand the handle flat as well .
where you have rounded off the edges of the handle will show gaps when the scales are attached.

Bob

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Looks good.
As noted, you need to flat sand the tang before HT.
The edge looks pretty thin, what thickness is it? You should also always mention what the steel type is, as this makes a difference when you stop for HT. If it is semi-sharp, you need to dull it back a bit with a couple strokes of the file.
If the steel is stainless, the edge can be taken to nearly sharp - about .010" . If it is carbon steel (1080,O-1, 1095,etc.) the edge should be about .030" thick.
The blade surface should be sanded to 400 grit and have all deep scratches gone before HT.

 

[Barry Clodfelter]

Even tho I can't see the pics of it at work I say heat treat it. The worst thing you can have is another shop blade and you can never have enough shop blades. I have almost 20 shop blades from learning how to grind that I went ahead and heat treated. Now I have a couple blades on every surface of my shop so finding something to cut with is never more than a couple steps away.

 

[james terrio]

I agree with the others - clean up the blade and lighten/flatten the tang, thicken the edge just a bit and HT that bad-boy.

 

[Patrickknives]

I suggest you finish all your blades that way you gain experience in all aspects, if it is really ugly then do some testing, bend and break. Its fun to see how tough some of these will be after HT.

 

[Core Knife Co.]

Looks good.
As noted, you need to flat sand the tang before HT.
The edge looks pretty thin, what thickness is it? You should also always mention what the steel type is, as this makes a difference when you stop for HT. If it is semi-sharp, you need to dull it back a bit with a couple strokes of the file.
If the steel is stainless, the edge can be taken to nearly sharp - about .010" . If it is carbon steel (1080,O-1, 1095,etc.) the edge should be about .030" thick.
The blade surface should be sanded to 400 grit and have all deep scratches gone before HT.

The edge thickness right now is .052. It pretty much matches a dime all the way around. It does look pretty thin in the pictures.

The steel is 5160.

I sanded it to 400. I think this is where I just created some more problems for myself. I was sanding with small blocks and really trying to achieve the level of detail I see here. Then I just placed a full piece of paper on a mouse pad and started going forward and backwards. Really trying to get a good contour. That's how I ended up rounding those edges near the front of the tang. And they are rounded. It's the transition at the plunge line that is giving me so much trouble. It's almost like the file edge digs in just a little more at that point, and the blade is just slightly thinner.

Back to the file.

I really do appreciate all your input and feedback.

 

[tychoseven]

I'm also an hobbyist maker, and I struggle with the plunge line too. Using a file jig, I have a hack that gets me pretty good results: leave a little extra width to the ricasso and slowly move the grind back as you work up the height of the blade. That is, don't bring your plunge all the way back at once, but do it in steps as you work the grind up the blade. When I'm ready to move the grind up, I cut from the ricasso towards the tip and focus on smoothing the plunge transition before I lower my angle.

I also leave a little extra sacrificial "meat" at the tip, because it's easy to round the tip when cutting the bevels. I finish the profile right before heat treating.

I would also skeletonize that handle, especially if you're putting on micarta or dense wood scales. Otherwise the balance will probably be too butt-heavy....unless you're into that sort of thing
If you have a bench grinder you can hollow the tang a bit, leaving the edges alone. This makes flattening the tang much faster since you don't have to remove as much material.

Good luck, and good work. Your second knife is much nicer than my first 5, at least!

 

[Core Knife Co.]

Thank you for the input. There is some good information there. I agree, I need to do something with the tang. It balances almost perfect right now, before the scales. I do have an old bench grinder, and that just night work to help remove some of the center material while leaving the edges alone. I don't have a press, and trying to drill out material with that cordless drill is frustrating, to say the least.

I worked on it almost all day, filing and sanding. I started at an 80 grit and worked up to 220. I've got a pretty nice scratch pattern going right now. I'll work on it some more and get it back to 400. The handle is as flat as I'm capable of getting it with what I have.