Virus imposed free time

[M&J]

Not much going on so I will put in some shop time to get the unfinished projects done.

Finished one of mine and made a Kydex sheath for the little Easler that I carry.

[rockhound]

Very, very nice work. I'm also hunkered down and utilizing this time to work on knives and sheaths along with getting caught up on fly tying. Similar projects as yours... finishing up a wharncliffe and sheath today. Mini-cleaver next on the bench. I should be working on taxes but still procrastinating that.

[Tex65]

Man, beautiful work. Plan on spending some quality time at the bench myself.

[M&J]

Moving into the tanto polishing project now.

This came to me in a trade and the blade had encountered a bit of moisture and was spotted following. The cleaners don't really get it all off. The initial rub is ok and I wanted the challenge to test my finishing capabilities. From the start to where I stopped for the evening.

Start:






Hamon showing up:

[jimmontg]

Works very well on rust pits that are hard as heck to sand off. It leaves an acid etched looking finish and removes rust even down in a deep pit. There is another rust changer, not remover called Jasco Metal Prep and it changes the rust from iron oxide to iron phosphate, or black iron if you will. Great base for painting too, even aluminum.

I just bought two Lauri Progressive tempered Scandi-grind knife blanks. The edge is a solid HRc 63 hard to 54 at the spine. Great little wood carving knives. That is what I will sell them as with cocobolo handles and small brass guard and pommels. Their price including the guard is $20 so I thought what the heck? I used one after stropping the edge with 10,000 grit diamond compound on leather and it cut like butter through 4 oz veg tan.

I noticed that the edge bevel isn't good for 8 oz thick though. It is high carbon steel, I'd guess like 1080 alloy configuration so I figure the edge would chip easily, too bad it isn't CPM 3V which is tougher than anything I've tried. Saw a guy on YouTube make a bushcrafting knife out of .090 3V and he abused the knife something fierce batoning firewood and it held up as if it were 3/16ths thick and held its edge. Said the heat treat process was too time consuming to be a knife he'd make on a regular basis and be affordable. Some steels are like that and he didn't do a cryo if I remember correctly.

Link to the Lauri blades; http://https://www.bensbackwoods.com/blades/

[M&J]

Thanks Jim!

The blade rubbed out pretty nicely though I can see some fluctuations during the forging process and slight pitting. Fairly even but some spots didn't rub out like other areas. Thinking about how I want to approach the hamon to make it show just a bit more.

Been doing lots of reading on the various knife forging discussions.

[M&J]

Gave it a light etch and didn't like it. Started all over at 600 and up to 2K. Going to try a more diluted mix just along the temper line and see how it goes. Want a light frosty look. Contemplated a hint of cold blue but that would not be traditional for this piece.