Damascus and Mammoth Ivory- Why did I start with these??

[Doug Lester]

Hey, Ricky. Ray's the expert here. The only reason that I'm designated a living legend is that the rules on the board don't allow me to be called an opinionated old f@rt. Besides, I don't wear boots.

Doug

[Ray Rogers]

Don't let Doug's modesty fool you. He may not have been here as long as I have (somewhere in the early Jurassic) but I have come to rely on his technical expertise when it comes to the science behind metallurgy. We have lots of people with their own expertise in their favorite areas of study. And that's what knife making is if you do it seriously: lots of study, lots of practice ....

[Bowman]

I have nothing to add that has not been said already other than I've enjoyed reading the thread. It is a little amusing but only because I had similar aspirations when I started looking at making a knife. In the end I chose a simple, small knife design with inexpensive materials that yielded a decent first attempt. I am glad that I did because it took a substantial effort to just pull that off. My second knife is about to get a handle of the same inexpensive wood.

The third is still going to be simple but I'm going to try making my own Micarta. This knife will be for my brother and the Micarta will made from my old underwear that I've been saving as I wear it out. I'm calling it "My-Underwear Micarta". This may sound like I'm a juvenile but I'll be 40 this year; brotherly love never ends.

Best of luck and make sure you post some pics.

[dwc34205]

Originally Posted by Bowman

I have nothing to add that has not been said already other than I've enjoyed reading the thread. It is a little amusing but only because I had similar aspirations when I started looking at making a knife. In the end I chose a simple, small knife design with inexpensive materials that yielded a decent first attempt. I am glad that I did because it took a substantial effort to just pull that off. My second knife is about to get a handle of the same inexpensive wood.

The third is still going to be simple but I'm going to try making my own Micarta. This knife will be for my brother and the Micarta will made from my old underwear that I've been saving as I wear it out. I'm calling it "My-Underwear Micarta". This may sound like I'm a juvenile but I'll be 40 this year; brotherly love never ends.

Best of luck and make sure you post some pics.

Ohh that is such a good idea. I may have to borrow that one. It would bring me great pleasure to watch someone use the knife then scratch their nose. I'm laughing thinking about who to get with that.

[dwc34205]

So I am writting back to find out who can help me figure out what went wrong. I have a theory but I am not going to say it because I will sound really smart (HA!).

I do not have pictures of the results but I will give as much detail as I can.

I went to a friends house (a knifemaker - mostly forging) to heat treat the baldes that I had posted pictures of in the beginning of this thread. Stock removal from random pattern damascus made by Alabama Damascus. Thickess 0.135". Larger blades (2 of them identical shape and grind-flat) were ~8" OAL and shorter ones (2 of them identical shape and one was hollow grind and other was flat) are ~6" OAL. Edge thickness was no less than 0.020" and no greater than 0.030". Blades were heated in a gas forge with a thermocouple placed in the center of the chamber and temp was consistant at 1500 degrees F. Took them past nonmagnetic and quenched immediately in peanut oil that was at 120-150 degrees F. Blades sat out in open air for maybe an hour while we heated other blades. Shop temp was probably around 40 degrees. Once all were ready they were placed in a paragon oven at 400 degrees and tempered for 1.5 hours and allowed to cool in the chamber with door closed.

The next day my friend took them out and several of the knives (all of mine) were warped. The larger ones of mine were warped just above the ricaso and the smaller ones were at the tip of the blade.

Does anyone have any idea of what could have gone wrong? Against my better judgement I will throw out my theory to see if is possible. I believe that the blades sat out in the cold air of the shop for too long between heat treat and tempering. Thoughts?

[tuc8]

Hi all..
I'm making a tactical knife for my son. He's heading off to Afganistan soon. I thought I'd powder coat the blade flat black. Any thoughts, concerns, etc.
Thanks,

[Ray Rogers]

DWC,

Letting the blades sit out like that can cause them to crack, they should be tempered as soon as they have cooled from quenching (but I think you already know that). Damascus steel can have a lot of stress built into it by the act of making it. When you grind you change the balance of these stresses but the cold steel can't warp very much (but check it anyway as it can warp enough to notice). To avoid this you should try normalizing your blades as you do the HT. If the blade warps anyway you can straighten it while it is hot during the normalizing process.

Tuc8,

You can powder coat it if you want to, just be sure that the powder coating temperature doesn't exceed the temperature used to temper the blade...