Oops!!!

[nifeman]

Hey y'all, worked on a blade yesterday and thought I had a winner:



But when I closely looked at it I had a cracked blade about halfway back :



Oh well, back to the drawing board

Seriously, I got too thin on my grind before I HTed the blade. That's what makes this interesting...Bud

[paul harm]

know what you mean bud- sent raymond some pictures of a knife i made that [ after being finished] developed two fine cracks along the edge. had this blade laying around for about 2 years, had hardened it i think 3 times before it got hard enough, then for some unknown reason left it lay around for awhile before finishing. this time i didn't test on a brass rod to see if it was drawn properly and you guessed it- i don't think i ever drew it back. the part that makes me so mad is it had these 3 different hardening lines [after i dipped it in ferric cloride]. it looked beautiful untill i started chopping 2x4's- then the cracks. oh well, just one to keep and show, and remind me keep notes. paul

[Ron Claiborne]

Paul that reminds me of the Book Mark Bowie at some time i had placed a bowie blade in a book that no dought i was reading at the time i found it years later not remembering even building it nice damascus blade .checked it out on brass it was good .finding a blade that has set for a while can be fun
ron

[Ron Claiborne]

by the way Rifelman dont feel to bad if this is your first one .some steel just refuse be a knife . lots caN GO WRONG twist ,crack, bend ,to soft to hard chip roll,
then they are those that come out good
nice blade to sorry you lost it
ron

[Jeff Higgins]

Checking a blade on brass? Would one of you fellers please be kind enough to elaborate on that? What are you looking for by doing that? Hardness? Cracks? Very interesting because I have never heard of that technique.

[Colin KC]

Originally posted by Jeff Higgins
Checking a blade on brass? Would one of you fellers please be kind enough to elaborate on that? What are you looking for by doing that? Hardness? Cracks? Very interesting because I have never heard of that technique.

Jeff, the brass rod test is thus:

Clamp a brass rod horizontal, then lay the blade, pependicular to the rod, resting on the edge only (at a very shallow angle) THEN, applying JUST enough pressure to distort the edge, draw the blade towards you (ACROSS the rod)

You SHOULD see the edge distort & then return to "true" If it chips, regrind, up the temper temperature a notch & try again!

If it doesn't return to "true" (ie, it stays distorted) Re-heat treat & temper at a slightly lower temperature!


Hope that helps


Col