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Guthook build-a-long

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madcrow:
25 degrees is good for utilty and skinning.  Once you drop below 20 degrees, the edge will become more delicate and prone to chipping. 

radius:
q 4 u, madcrow

I have taken one of those 3 knife blanks above, and filed an edge on it, and taken it to the sharpening stone.  It's not super sharp yet, and i wonder:  do i take it to full sharpness before tempering it, or after?  This is my 1st try, so i'm pretty much walking in the dark...thanks.

DanaM:
Harden and then temper the blade before final sharpening, thats how I do it anyway.

radius:
isn't hardening and tempering the same?  you bring the steel to non-magnetic state, and then quench it in motor oil? 

So you're saying I should bring the knife to shape, but not sharpness, and then sharpen it after the quench?

Have you ever coated the back (spine) with clay so that it doesn't quench as rapidly as the blade?  From what I can tell, it helps keep the thing from becoming brittle.

DanaM:
radius I get mine almost sharp then as you say bring it to non magnetic and quench in drain oil, after its cool check it for hardness by
taking a file to it if you can't file it than its harder than the file. At this point I clean it up real good and put in the oven at 400 degrees for
1 to 2 hours to temper it, in otherwords I draw some of the hardness out making it less brittle, I usually leave it in the oven until its a straw yellow color.
As for the clay thats a diferential hardening process and I don't know much about it .

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