[TheForge] Re: Finishing forged knife

Mon Oct 20 00:03:00 2003

That's certainly true for hardening blades in open atmospheric conditions,
but using steels that don't have a tendency to warp, with salt bath heat
treating  you can take the blade to about a 600 grit finish because the salt
prevents any oxidation.
Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: "Harland Johnson" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2003 8:24 AM
Subject: [TheForge] Re: Finishing forged knife


> Scott,
>
> I don't think you would choose to do the hardening and tempering last, as
> there is the possibility of warping, and also of decarbonizing the fine
> blade edge.
>
>
> I real knife person will probably speak up, but after rough shaping a
knife,
> I harden, then thermal cycle a few times to temper. Then I finish the
knife
> on the belt sander.  By doing the final stock reduction on  a belt sander,
I
> work bare handed to feel the temperature of the blade.  I don't "hog down"
> and frequently dip it in water to keep the blade steel cool and not change
> the temper.  Also by doing the grinding last, you remove the de-carbonized
> steel from what will be the blade edge.
>
> The final step is the acid etch, which can make a finely sharpened knife
> into a razor sharp instrument.  The acid etch can be like chemically
> sharpening the blade edge.
>
>
>
> Scott Lane writes:
>
> > Greetings,
> > I have just finished rough forging my first pattern welded blade (and
> > don't anyone dare say Damscus).  It's pretty close to final shape but I
> > left enough to do the final grinding.  As this is my first forged knife
> > ever I have a question:
> > In what order should I now do the grinding, normalizing (thermal cycling
> > 3 times) and hardening/tempering?  I'll probably normalize before
grinding
> > just to be sure so that I can tap out the small kinks, but should I
> > normalize after grinding again?  Heat treat before or after grinding?
> > Polish after heat treating?  Acid etch last?
> > This is a small Viking style knife that with a whittle tang going into
an
> > antler handle.
> > I'm really looking forward to the advice and to finishing my first
knife.
> >
> > Thanks!
> > Scott
> >
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> Dann Johnson
>
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