Knife WIP

[Aglifter]

That sounds so much more fun than chocolate pots and pasteurizers...

[Denis]

That sounds so much more fun than chocolate pots and pasteurizers...

Somewhere, there is a market for x-ray diffracted, cryogenically-treated, rockwell hardness-tested, pasteurised chocolate ice-cream...

(make mine rum & rasin, please...)

[Evyl Robot]

Beautiful work, sir! I've tried my hand at building knives from finished blades before. It is a lot of fun, and it is relatively easy to get decent at it. It's not at all easy to get good at it, but it's a lot of fun any way you do it. I'd highly recommend it to anybody. I haven't done any of the blade work yet, but I do have a project in mind...

[HTRN]

I think the $125 Sears 2" x 42" belt grinder is a great starter - the main negative is it runs FAST, so keeping the work cool is key, but a knifemaker's belt grinder needs another 0 in the price.

Kalamazoo makes a really nice 2x72" belt grinder, for under 500ish without the motor or under 700 with.

I heat treat a lot like Goddard does.

I like his simple solution to keeping the spine soft and the edge hard with his regulator block. I'm not so sure about his bacon grease quenching medium, due to rancidity issues.

Belts at McMaster-Carr

McMaster is great, but they are very pricey. Have you looked at Supergrit?

[ZeroGravitas]

Dwight, my hardness testing; If a file skips across the metal, it's a knife - If the file digs in, redo the HT. I haven't had to redo yet. CC, Thanks for the generous offer! But since my whole HT process is crude, I'm not sure what I'd do with real numbers.

HT! Thanks for the Supergrit link!!!!! The prices are good, and the selection is excellent! And I use canola oil, not the Goddard Goop.

[DwightG]

my hardness testing; If a file skips across the metal, it's a knife

Yup, the Rockwell File hardness test I do it too. Not having played with 5160 in this manner, I was wondering how they hold up under the pry test?

[rightisright]

ZG,
Maybe look at getting a variable speed control in your belt grinder power loop?

I have one of these on a permanently under-mounted router. It's much easier than going under the table and adjusting the speed on the machine itself.

http://www.amazon.com/MLCS-9400-Standar ... 103&sr=8-2

Should work fine with a small sander.

[ZeroGravitas]

Dwight, 5160 is what the Bladesmiths Guild recommends for use in the Journeyman and Master tests because it survives the bend tests better than anything else. I don't have experience with other metals, but when straightening out post HT warp, the amount of flex in the 5160 blades was amazing. I did not have good experience with 0-1, it will harden with air cooling and then be very fragile. An 0-1 blade broke when it fell off the bench, after forging and before HT.

[ZeroGravitas]

Pretty much done

[Darrell]

Beauty! I really like the grip, and the hammered/forge marks finish on the blade.