M. Fong Wharncliff w/CA buckeye burl

[M&J]

A recent completion:

ATS-34 with stabilized CA buckeye burl handle scales:

8-3/4" OAL
4-3/4" blade

Kydex sheath right hand set-up. This is an asymmetrical sheath so the mount does not flip for a left hand.

Check at Nordic knives.

Thanks for looking!

[jimmontg]

Beautiful knife Mike. I really like the linear grain on the blade, being hollow ground that was a lot of hand labor. Very good job, $225 is a bargain. Do you know the Rockwell?

[M&J]

Thanks Jim!
Pacific Heat treat they relay ATS-34 is at 60 RC typically.

[jimmontg]

Rc 60 is right at 154CM/ATS34's best parameter on hardness. Though it wouldn't be too noticeable if it were 59 to 61 with 60 as the aim point although 59 to 61 is a difference of 10%, 59-60 is 5%.
Note Rockwell C is exponential, but not largely so. 50-51 is 4%, but 60-61 is 5%.
Maybe I ought to do an article on it.

[M&J]

An article would be interesting. Yes, write this up.

The nice part is that they test the whole batch. There may have been a couple times in the span of all these years I've seen a couple blades with double dimples in them. Indicated to me they went back in for another round.

Have also done cryo treatment though that routine is mostly with the 440-C blades.

[jimmontg]

According to Dr. Larrin Thomas and at least 80 years of observation. I forget which knifemaker who wrote an article in Blade magazine in the 90s said that he noticed that his 52100 forged blades he left out in his shop in -30 F temps were tougher and harder. Larrin Thomas says that if you cannot immediately temper your knives after quench to put them in the freezer. Every steel can benefit from a cryo and Larrin tested knives from freezer to liquid nitrogen the steel always shows some improvement. (BTW not tempering a knife soon after quench allows austenite to 'set' and tempering doesn't change it to martensite or change a certain amount of brittleness.)

I can attest to simple freezer cryo as I worked for a metallurgist engineer who would always put his heat treated gears into a special -40 F freezer and would leave them there until he had a big enough batch to temper. Guy was a fanatic, but taught me how to tig weld gears without affecting their HT.

[M&J]

The cost for cryo is pretty minimal in the grand scope of producing a quality cutting tool. If the HT shop has the capability that's my option as well to have it done. Always interesting to have verification of these processes since HT is a critical part of the craft.