On my way here-----yikes

[Ray Rogers]

Why? Epoxy will just wear off and look bad. I don't know much about the proper way to finish wood and I don't need to because I prefer stabilized wood. But, if I was using plain wood I'd want a finish that got into the wood rather than one that just sat on top of it. I'd use an oil or wax finish - whichever was appropriate for walnut ...

[JawJacker]

Ray from what I was reading I gathered walnut would not work well to stabilized it said it would not soak in well I may go the minwax way

I started a nice fire on my patio in one of those clay chimney fireplaces I had the coals above 1500 I used a BBQ grate on the coals and some long tongs tossed her in threw some more wood in and moved my peanut oil closer to the operation
Ok this was my first time doing this HT thing, I felt I had a good understanding on what to do.I moved it around some on the grate to find the hottest spot I used a laser temp gun when the blade hit 1400+ I check it with a magnet it was glowing and had some sparks but was still magnetic so back in it went for a few checked it a few more time and I was getting nervous I was seeing more sparks when I checked it but was still slightly magnetic So I gave it one more soak about 2 min. still the same deal just slightly magnetic so I hit the oil and I had a huge flame until it fully submerged. So am I ok?????? or can I do the HT again.

[Crex]

JJ,
Looks like you recovered well from the mishap. You really don't have to worry about discoloration from overheating the blade grinding until you have heattreated. It will get much hotter during that process.
On the HT....shouldn't be any sparks coming from the steel (maybe they were from the fire around it). Very primitive methodology for HT. IF the sparks were actually coming from the steel you may have gone too far to get the steel back for a retry, but it doesn't sound like it with the set up you described. Were you checking the entire blade from the tip to the choil area with the magnet? It's a little trickier to test that way than meets the eye. Very important that the whole blade (working end) is the same temp before the quench. A better more controlled approach would be to set a 3" to 4" piece of black pipe***not Galvanzed!*** in the coals and get it up toa glowing red heat then heat your blade inside the pipe.

Walnut is very porous and stabilizes very well. I personally don't prefer stabilized woods, as don't think the handle should outlast the blade on a using knife. I like them to age the same. Nothing wrong with stabilized wood mind you, just not my preference. Agree with Ray on the epoxy. I've found a coat and sand repetition with thin superglue works quite well to seal up the larger pores found in walnut. Just rub in a thin coat of SG, let dry, sand back to raw wood. Do this as many times as it takes to fill the pores flush. Once there a few coats of danish oil will work well. Walnut is beautiful wood if finished well.
Looking pretty good.

[JawJacker]

Crex, yes I was using the magnet touching all the areas. The blade portion was glowing more than the handle, blade being thin I understsnd that part. The only part I need to fix now is the handle bent 1/16th out will it be ok to bend it back in the vise??

I will try the pipe tip on the next one Thanks.

[Crex]

If you quenched the entire blade, I wouldn't try flexing in a vise. You can reheat the handle and bend back straight if the bend is not too close to the finger groove/choil area. Clamp the blade portion in a vise with aluminum jaws (aluminum angle will work to pd the jaws). heat the tang area where you need to straighten with a torch until red hot and "crink" back into alignment with a large cresent wrench.
Allow to cool in the vise. The aluminum and vise will act as a heat sink to protect the blade's temper.
Note: If you don't get it hot enough, the blade will break at the weakest point, so make sure it's red hot before you start to flex it back in line.

[Ray Rogers]

Sounds like the blade might have been a little cool for the HT but I'd just finish it out and test it, see how it does. As for the warpage, as CREX said, don't try to straighten it cold. I've had some luck straightening slight warps during the tempering process. Get the blade to tempering temperature, soak for an hour, and then immediately try to straighten the hot blade. This must be done smoothly - do not *bounce* the blade, just bend it enough that you think it might be straight when you let go of it and then hold it there until it cools.

I've also built a fixture consisting of two heavy metal bars bolted together at the ends with 5/8" stainless bolts. I place the warped blade between the two bars and insert 3 1/2" rods so that the blade is suspended on the rods (two rods on one side, one on the other). Tighten the bolts when the blade is at tempering temp and straighten the blade. Back in the oven, heat soak some more, tighten the bolts some more. Repeat as needed to get as much bend on the blade as you need. This takes some time to work because tempering temp really isn't hot enough but it is as far as you can go without ruining the HT. You can temper for as long as you need to without hurting the HT. For this process I usually go for 3 or 4 hours depending on the steel. This process is the only way I have found that works well on stainless blades....

[JawJacker]

OK I'm still having fun. I tempered 2 times @450. Instead of bending the blade back it was less than a 16th out, I went to the grinder, everything seemed to work fine, it just went slow.

When I did the HT I think I left too much on the blade had more than a dime thickness by the handle that took a while to get down.I should get the handle started soon I have been busy at work.
Don't know how I will sharpen it yet, I may order some belts I hate using sticks and stones.

[Ray Rogers]

That sounds like a plan. Often when you have those slight warps if you pay attention as you grind and favor one side a tad more than the other you can relieve the stress that causes the warp and the blade will straighten.

Belts are the quickest way to establish an initial edge. After that though, it's best to refine the edge with a Lansky or some similar sharpener if you want a nice, even, professional looking edge. You can get very close to that with belts and a ton of practice but perfection always eludes me ...

[JawJacker]

Done except the edge. I learned way more than I expected. I have some mistakes but all in all I'm happy with it. Thanks to all for the advice and help. David

[Ray Rogers]

That looks like a reasonable facsimile of a knife. Does it work as good as it looks?

[ckluftinger]

Originally Posted by JawJacker

When I use the walnut for the handle can I get away with just coating it with epoxy??

Do you mean to use an epoxy as a finish? IMO if you don't have the means to stabilize (vacuum) the wood with the epoxy, I would rather use an oil and wax finish, or a rubbed on Polyurethane. Epoxies look like a coating and make the wood grain disappear. Sorta like that seventies maple burl clock on the wall...

[cbsmith111]

I like the short, wide blade. Did you mean to take your grind into the spine like that? I'm just curious because when I tried a full flat grind I ended up cutting down the spine some.

[JawJacker]

Ray I'm waiting for one of those paper wheels to come in to sharpen it. The balance is off some, handle heavy, not too bad. This wont see any action its going on my fireplace mantel.

CK, No I used minwax finish paste I think it was called.

CBSmith, I wanted NOT to go all the way up with the grind but after a break I went back and changed the table angle and when I realized it, it was to late. You don't see it but it indents at the top


Thanks ALL for the help. can't wait to start the next one.

[Ray Rogers]

Unless a full tang knife has at least a 10" blade they always seem handle heavy to me. Tapering the tang or drilling a hundred holes or even skeletonizing the entire handle offers only a marginal improvement. That is why I choose to (almost) never make full tang knives. A properly executed single pin stub tang handle will give short knives a much improved balance and will be more than strong enough for any reasonable, and most unreasonable, uses you might put a knife to ...