edge quench

Hi Don, Ed, and all. I have been out here reading and learning but haven't posted in a while. Mike Koller made me feel guilty so... After three normalizing and annealing cycles-if you edge quench a blade, do you then need to draw the spine? I completed my first knife and sheath about a month ago. Forged from an old file, I made a 4and a half inch(blade) skinner with a Skagelesque handle. Turned out very nice-full of flaws-nobody else noticed. Haven't spent enough time in the shop lately as my work has come into the season. I do plastering and painting and have 5 guys working for me. I mention that as excuse for not spending time in shop. Would like to set up outdoor forge this summer. I found a champion 400 blower-guy wants 200.00. Can get 'em cheaper on e-bay but this is local and shipping is killer. Is this a fair price? Blower works perfect. Thanks Trey Walker

Trey,you do not need to draw the spine if you edge quench because the spine will remain soft.Dave

Trey,

Do not want to brag, but found one in excelent condition in a pawn shop for 40$. Not to long after built gas forge and the thing is sitting in a corner colecting dust.

The edge quench, if done right, will have excelent results and have a very tough knife. I use an edge quench on all my blades and if nothing else, love that temper line!

I've tried soft back draw, and clay coatings to, but edge quench works best for me.

Dave,

I tried something like Godderd's goo for a quench and the first larg blade I quench got hard nearly to the spine and several small ones warped at the edge. Had not had this problem before, I assumed the quench was to fast. Switched back to compressor oil and auto trany fluid and have not had a problem. To bad, liked the idea of solid quench.

Have you ever had this problem?

Dave, I believe Wayne Goddard warms his goop up before he uses it for a quench. I bet you forgot the bacon grease. He likes it solid so when he does his demonstrations it doesn't spill while traveling.

Trey, when you say blower, your talking blower for coal. There's alot of different ways of making what ever you want at a fraction of the price for the blower you mentioned. Lot of help on the internet on the subject. Need to make up your mind, I did coal for a number of years, I had just bought 200 pounds of blacksmith coal and ended up making a propane forge not long after. If you not planing on welding and just forging you can use a weed burner to get up to forging heat. I bought a weed burner at Harbor Freight for $15.00, bought all the foundary supplies for less than thrity bucks. Got an old propane bottle and made the forge out of it. Just made a smaller forge out of an eleven pound propane bottle last week, took me about an hour. I also converted my weed burner for air. Had to do alittle welding but made a pipe afair where I tied in the cheepest bathroom exaust fan as a blower with little modifications. The miracal of duct tape. Propane is definatly the way to go. Ray