I was just doing some reading in Karl Schroen's book "The Hand Forged Knife" and came across something nifty I'll have to try. To prevent oxidation of the blade in the fire during the hardening process he first dips the blade in a boiling solution consisting of 1/3 borax and 2/3 water and lets that dry on the blade before heat treating.

Guy Thomas

Guy,
Thanks for the trick.
Question:Was the blade cold,warm,or brought to a certain temp before apply the borax solution?

Good question Mike, he doesn't actually say but from the way this page reads it would appear that he is talking about a room temperature knife blade being dipped into the boiling solution and allowing that to dry prior to heating the blade for the quench.

Guy

Thanks Guy!!!

This was one of the first knife books i had and i tried this trick some years ago. You can use a cold knife. The solution has to be boiled to dissolve the borax, but when dipping it can be cold. It works quiet well. But the layer of burnt in borax is hard to get off after hardening.

Achim