New and Old knife making questions!

[chopsknives]

Both of these reads are excellent!! Another reason you want to understand the process is consistency and not just for edge holding ability. I had a customer at a show tell me his favorite knife ever was a custom that held a super edge but he dropped it and it shattered into pieces! He said he tried to have another made but the guy was out of business (imagine that!) This is a dangerous situation as the knife could of shattered while using it sending chards of metal into bad places! This is one of the dangers of using Pakistani knives as they are usually made from shipping containers left by China and are slag metal - since they are mystery metal they prolly aren't heat treated properly for that metal and more than likely aren't drawn back. Anyone can heat to critical mass and quench but the molecules must be relaxed by drawing it back or tempering.

[MikeConner]

Both of these reads are excellent!! Another reason you want to understand the process is consistency and not just for edge holding ability. I had a customer at a show tell me his favorite knife ever was a custom that held a super edge but he dropped it and it shattered into pieces! He said he tried to have another made but the guy was out of business (imagine that!) This is a dangerous situation as the knife could of shattered while using it sending chards of metal into bad places! This is one of the dangers of using Pakistani knives as they are usually made from shipping containers left by China and are slag metal - since they are mystery metal they prolly aren't heat treated properly for that metal and more than likely aren't drawn back. Anyone can heat to critical mass and quench but the molecules must be relaxed by drawing it back or tempering.

Very true, I've had folks ask me if I heat treat a blade to around 65 HRC. I said I sure can but it isn't leaving my shop until it's been tempered back to 58-60.

[chopsknives]

Oh and you get to learn really big words like retained austenite, martinsite, martinistic steel, austenitic steel, pearlite nose, eutectoid and you can talk about things like the widmanstatten patterns in titanium which are also found in in octahedrite iron meteorites (lamellae - or interleaved kamacite and taenite ribbons) - Which is another blade steel I'm makin a knife out of! Cut parrellel to the octahedral form of the structure so that the angle between the sets of lamellae is at a 60degree angle for the coolest look!!

[chopsknives]

Yeah Mike I have a couple of folders I'm makin for members that are 67HRC ....but they're Cowry X steel! LOL!!

[Bjankowski]

Both of these reads are excellent!! Another reason you want to understand the process is consistency and not just for edge holding ability. I had a customer at a show tell me his favorite knife ever was a custom that held a super edge but he dropped it and it shattered into pieces! He said he tried to have another made but the guy was out of business (imagine that!) This is a dangerous situation as the knife could of shattered while using it sending chards of metal into bad places! This is one of the dangers of using Pakistani knives as they are usually made from shipping containers left by China and are slag metal - since they are mystery metal they prolly aren't heat treated properly for that metal and more than likely aren't drawn back. Anyone can heat to critical mass and quench but the molecules must be relaxed by drawing it back or tempering.

Dang brother those are certainly word to live by. I just want to promote Good Knife making practices. I shiver sometimes when I see new knife makers sell their wares on here and don't have a clue what is going on in the interior of that chuck of steel they are selling. One reason I test, test and more test. I spend all of Saturday last week on various quench methods on some hamon edge 1095. I quenched some in my super quench, some brine heated, some not heated, I did some in interrupted quench all the blades were clayed up to see the differential in hardness from the edge to the spine. One thing I did find that I didn't like was I had too much flex in the spines and they were too soft, might have had too much clay on the spine. However this is the only way we as knife makers can become quality knife makers.
Tim I'm so glad you post on here; we're all lucky to have you in our presence.

[TimH]

Dang brother those are certainly word to live by. I just want to promote Good Knife making practices. I shiver sometimes when I see new knife makers sell their wares on here and don't have a clue what is going on in the interior of that chuck of steel they are selling. One reason I test, test and more test. I spend all of Saturday last week on various quench methods on some hamon edge 1095. I quenched some in my super quench, some brine heated, some not heated, I did some in interrupted quench all the blades were clayed up to see the differential in hardness from the edge to the spine. One thing I did find that I didn't like was I had too much flex in the spines and they were too soft, might have had too much clay on the spine. However this is the only way we as knife makers can become quality knife makers.
Tim I'm so glad you post on here; we're all lucky to have you in our presence.

Thank you. Those are very kind words.

Oh wait, wrong Tim.

j/k



Seriously, thanks to y'all with the experience. I use a lot of the completed work I see on here as guides to learning.

[chopsknives]

Ha! Ha! lets just say we're all lucky to be here and leave it at that! LOL!!! I'm afraid I was doing some research on advanced heat treating methods on iron meteorites to achieve high Rockwell hardness and it got the best of me!!! Poor Erica got to listen to me babble for half an hour in bed about it!!!

[sir shovelhands]

Oh and you get to learn really big words like retained austenite, martinsite, martinistic steel, austenitic steel, pearlite nose, eutectoid and you can talk about things like the widmanstatten patterns in titanium which are also found in in octahedrite iron meteorites (lamellae - or interleaved kamacite and taenite ribbons) - Which is another blade steel I'm makin a knife out of! Cut parrellel to the octahedral form of the structure so that the angle between the sets of lamellae is at a 60degree angle for the coolest look!!

This reminds of why I slept through mechanics of materials class in engineering school...and looking at fun little phase diagrams:

[Bjankowski]

Ha! Ha! lets just say we're all lucky to be here and leave it at that! LOL!!! I'm afraid I was doing some research on advanced heat treating methods on iron meteorites to achieve high Rockwell hardness and it got the best of me!!! Poor Erica got to listen to me babble for half an hour in bed about it!!!

I think my wife can relate to that; all I can say is thank God for the internet. I remember the days in the 70's and 80's and the hours spent at the library. Especially nowadays with all the new possibilities, we never quit learning... or in my case TRYING to learn.

[Bjankowski]

This reminds of why I slept through mechanics of materials class in engineering school...and looking at fun little phase diagrams:

If you slept through the mechanics of materials call I hope you're not the structural engineer working on my 95,000 sq ft project in Odessa.

[TimH]

I'll say this much so far in this new experience and that is, freehanding a bevel is not easy. At least for me, this is true. Granted, I don't have all the right equipment yet, but using what I have is tough when it comes to getting a nice clean edge and then getting it polished up nicely. I need to fabricate something to use to hold a steady angle when grinding and working on an edge.

[chopsknives]

I'll say this much so far in this new experience and that is, freehanding a bevel is not easy. At least for me, this is true. Granted, I don't have all the right equipment yet, but using what I have is tough when it comes to getting a nice clean edge and then getting it polished up nicely. I need to fabricate something to use to hold a steady angle when grinding and working on an edge.

Nah stay freehand it's harder to master but much more fun when you do!! Give me a sharp 50# belt and that baby will ride the sweet spot w/o even tryin!!

[BeerMe]

Good info you guys shared. Kinda like drinking from a fire hose tho!

[Bjankowski]

I'll say this much so far in this new experience and that is, freehanding a bevel is not easy. At least for me, this is true. Granted, I don't have all the right equipment yet, but using what I have is tough when it comes to getting a nice clean edge and then getting it polished up nicely. I need to fabricate something to use to hold a steady angle when grinding and working on an edge.

Like Chop said stay with freehand.. if you can get some practice material start out slow and easy if your blade is an upswept follow the contour of the blade. The trick is to try to keep your grind symmetrical from your plunge cut to the tip... You also have a strong side and a weak side start off with your weak side and match it with the strong side. Depends if your right or left handed.
Here’s a good example of the grind following the edge. I made this one for a customer on Facebook.

Remember how hard it was to learn to ride a bike and it got easier and easier? Same thing here, spend some time in on the grinder.
The only jig I use is one I made to drill out my scales with the blade on top..

[Kevin Smith]

Looks good Bob, my weak side is my left side, I've always started grinding on the right side first, I'll try what you said and see if it helps.

Thanks for the pointer.