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Old 07-26-2017, 03:38 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Wauconda, WA
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You want your test knives to be as much like your 'finished' knives as possible. That mainly means same grind, same sharpening, same handle shape. I know you won't have a real handle on these because you haven't learned about carbide drills and/or spot annealing yet but keep it in mind on the next ones. Yes, that's what I said: this isn't a one time deal. You need to do this process for each type of steel you use, possibly more than once before you get it right. Many of us will do it any time we get a new batch of steel even if it is one we have used before because no two batches are ever identical.

When you go to break the blade put a couple of pieces of hard wood in your vise, round the edges off the piece that the blade will bend over. Clamp the first quarter of your blade between the pieces of wood. Put a 3ft pipe over the handle for leverage. Now, this next part is extremely important:

Wear safety glasses and, if at all possible, wear a full face shield also. Wear clothing over all your body, i.e., no short sleeves or short pants, gloves are a good idea. If the heat treat is close to correct the blade can shatter like glass and throw tiny shards of metal .

Bend the handle slowly and smoothly. Pay attention to how far it bends before the blade snaps. If it breaks before, say 30 degrees, it was far too hard. If it bends to 90 degrees and still won't break it was far too soft. If it bends but has little tendency to return to straight it is too soft. Depending on the steel somewhere in the middle would be about right.

Get an old Nicholson file and break that. The grain and color in that file is about what you want for your knife ...


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