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First attempt at a knife

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nozza36

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Post Sun Aug 02, 2015 8:28 am

First attempt at a knife

Been thinking about making (or trying to make) a knife for some time , recently i came across some Silver Steel so i've made a start !
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nozza36

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Post Sun Aug 02, 2015 8:29 am

Re: First attempt at a knife

This metal is so hard and at 8mm thick , it's killing my bench grinder !
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Anarchy_won

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Post Sun Aug 02, 2015 8:37 am

Re: First attempt at a knife

Nice start.
might be time to look into a belt grinder ;)
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WolfSpring

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Post Sun Aug 02, 2015 10:18 am

Re: First attempt at a knife

One of the things my research has found, if you have a drill press, you can drill out around the design holes along the way and play connect the dots with a saw or file instead of grinding so much off, it also keeps the temp down so you are not messing up the temper of the metal. I am looking into a belt sander, it is the suggested stock removal tool that I've seen online. I'm trying not to put a lot of money into something right now though got a lot of ideas, but no so much time and money. Looks like you've got a good start going there though.
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nozza36

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Post Sun Aug 02, 2015 1:11 pm

Re: First attempt at a knife

Wolfspring , i don't have a drill press , i just whacked away with my bench grinder , it also has a belt grinder , but this is not a Commercial tool , so god knows how long it will take/last , lol
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macgng

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Post Sun Aug 02, 2015 3:26 pm

Re: First attempt at a knife

looking good so far ;) ... what kinda handle u gonna put on it?
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escher7

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Post Mon Aug 03, 2015 2:30 am

Re: First attempt at a knife

I had never heard of silver steel being used in knives but on looking it up, apparently Finish puuko knives use it. When annealed it is RC 27 which should be soft enough to grind. I wonder if your piece has been hardened.
I recommend you start with O1 to begin with. O1 is inexpensive and can be heat treated with a good torch and tempered in your oven. There are many good books out there, but I recommend the one by Barney and Loveless:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Knives-R ... king+books

Good luck.

(p.s. I just read the reviews on the soft cover and apparently the photos are pretty bad. I have the original hard cover which is great, so you may want to check out a few others or find an old hard copy. Tim McCreight's book is designed for beginners and would be ideal for what you want:

http://www.amazon.com/Custom-Knifemakin ... merReviews
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nozza36

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Post Mon Aug 03, 2015 3:26 pm

Re: First attempt at a knife

The Toolmaker i work with said it does have a tendency to "work harden" but when i'm done with it , he will "bake " it in the oven at work to give it a proper hard finish
whf ! it's hard as fuck already lol , dread to think how long it will take to hone :akimbo:
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escher7

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Post Tue Aug 04, 2015 2:36 am

Re: First attempt at a knife

nozza36 wrote:The Toolmaker i work with said it does have a tendency to "work harden" but when i'm done with it , he will "bake " it in the oven at work to give it a proper hard finish
whf ! it's hard as fuck already lol , dread to think how long it will take to hone :akimbo:


There is more to heat treating than "baking" it. Silver steel is a fairly standard high carbon tool steel and must be heat treated in two steps:
1. The blade must be heated to its critical temperature (normally cherry red, "bright red" not dull red) and then quenched in either water or oil. I suggest oil, as water may shock the blade and cause it to warp or break.
This hardens the steel but it is far too hard at that point and will shatter if banged against anything hard. It is also too hard to sharpen or work in any way.
2. The steel must then be tempered (softened) back to working hardness by baking it until it achieves a Rockwell C hardness of around 58. If you are doing this by hand, clean the blade after quenching so it is shiny and then bake it around 450 F or heat it with a torch until it colours to a straw colour. Purple is too soft and requires starting over.

If your guy at work has a heat treating oven, the temperature for hardening is 800 - 810 C, (if oil quenching).
Depending on the hardness wanted, tempering is 150 - 300 C. I would suggest trying various temperatures on scrap pieces until you get the right colour, again by achieving a straw colour. If your guy has a Rockwell tester, 58RC is a good hardness that will allow easy sharpening.
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nozza36

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Post Sun Jul 10, 2016 8:25 am

Re: First attempt at a knife

Been a while since i made any comment on this blade , but here it is (so far)
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nine4t4

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Post Sun Jul 10, 2016 12:59 pm

Re: First attempt at a knife

Are you on Bladeforums as well? They have some good advice.

It's a bit late for this advice, but I would have used a big bastard machinist (the file). The good ones are cheap but they would speed up the process. Then you use the grinder to fine tune the grind and clean up the tool marks. I'd also suggest annealing (heat and then cool as slow as possible). Think tempering, but with the goal of making the steel as soft as possible. Again that's thats info for the next one.

Making knives is fun and frustrating, like lockpicking. If it wasn't a challenge where's the point?

Make sure to show us the end product
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nozza36

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Post Thu Jul 14, 2016 11:31 am

Re: First attempt at a knife

Getting a bit further along
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DCT

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Post Fri Dec 02, 2016 9:29 am

Re: First attempt at a knife

Very cool! If you check out Gough Knives on youtube there is a video about how to make a bevel filing jig that works very well and is easy to make.
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