MEMBER ITEMS FOR SALE
Custom Knives | Other Knives | General Items
-------------------------------------------
New Posts | New PhotosAll Photos



Go Back   The Knife Network Forums : Knife Making Discussions > Custom Knife Discussion Boards > Knife Making Discussions > The Newbies Arena

The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 04-15-2015, 01:10 PM
RedstickJP RedstickJP is offline
Steel Addict
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posts: 124
test knife

finished my first knife and got it sharpened up. whittled through a 2x2 board, then went straight to shaving paper, then cardboard, then paper again (cut up a large paper towel box). Unfortunately I didn't have a brass rod to do that particular test. I used 5/32" O-1 steel.

Clamped it in a vise about 1/3" from the tip and pulled, blade snapped at about 30 degrees from what I could see on my video. I took the best pics I could, can't wait to hear your feedback.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg IMG_2310.JPG (43.0 KB, 31 views)
File Type: jpg IMG_2312.JPG (31.4 KB, 25 views)
File Type: jpg IMG_2313.JPG (25.8 KB, 26 views)
File Type: jpg IMG_2315.JPG (36.1 KB, 29 views)
File Type: jpg IMG_2317.JPG (30.2 KB, 32 views)

Last edited by RedstickJP; 04-15-2015 at 01:53 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 04-15-2015, 03:16 PM
Ray Rogers's Avatar
Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
Founding Member / Moderator
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Wauconda, WA
Posts: 9,840
Sounds like it performed OK and the grain looks good as far as I can see it. But 30 degrees is a little sooner than I would choose to have it break, I see two possibilities for ways that might be improved.

One could be the vise you used: did you put a piece of hardwood on each side of the blade so that the blade couldn't touch the steel jaws? If not, the sharp edge of the jaws will cause the blade to break early.

Or, if it isn't the vise jaws then the steel might be a little too hard so a slightly higher temper might be in order. This assumes the grain is as fine as that picture makes it seem but its a low res pic so can't be sure. If it broke because of the grain then better temp control before quench is usually the culprit ...


__________________

Your question may already have been answered - try the Search button first!






Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 04-15-2015, 04:41 PM
RedstickJP RedstickJP is offline
Steel Addict
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posts: 124
The grain seems to be pretty fine, but since it's my first one I don't really know what it should look like if it's too course. I did use two pieces of 3/4 plywood, had to clamp pretty tight. I tempered at 400degrees for 1hr, let it cool back to room temp then did another hour. I'll try to get a better pic of the grain.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 04-15-2015, 04:52 PM
Ray Rogers's Avatar
Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
Founding Member / Moderator
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Wauconda, WA
Posts: 9,840
The break in the blade is kind of far from the tip. That leaves a short, stiff, section of blade that you were bending so that too can make it snap early. Clamping about an inch of the tip or a bit more is usually good on a 4 or 5" blade .....


__________________

Your question may already have been answered - try the Search button first!






Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 04-15-2015, 05:49 PM
RedstickJP RedstickJP is offline
Steel Addict
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posts: 124
ok. When I was doing the tempering I noticed that my blade never changed colors, should it have changed to the straw color that I keep reading that other people are getting? Its an old oven, but I know it was at 400 because I used a digital thermometer. I didnt do anything after the quench except scrub the oil off, should I have sanded the blade first?
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 04-15-2015, 07:16 PM
Ed Caffrey's Avatar
Ed Caffrey Ed Caffrey is offline
Super Moderator
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Great Falls, Montana, USA
Posts: 4,393
Send a message via AIM to Ed Caffrey Send a message via Yahoo to Ed Caffrey
Two things that I noticed from the pics..... 1. The blade doesn't seem to have much distal taper. (Tapering from the ricasso to the tip). Distal taper do two things for a blade..the lighten the over feel considerably, and they increase the way stress is dispersed when a blade is bent. 2. Square edges at the spine..... rounding off the spine reduces possible stress risers (places where a break starts).

Finally, flexibility is not O1's strongest suit. O1 hardens well, but compared to other carbon/alloy steels such as the 10xx series, and 5160, its just not the best choice for a blade that encounters lateral flexing.
If the blade was "clean" prior to tempering (ground clean), it should have certainly shown some color..... generally at 400F, I'd expect to see straw color, with a little vermillion mixed in (reddish purple). From what I saw in the pics, the grain size is about average for O1..... in my experience the best way I can explain what I like to see when it comes to "grain"....is that is looks like melted, swirled up vanilla ice cream.

Personally, I don't think a 1 hour temper is enough. I've seen too many instances where folks have come to me for their ABS JS test(s), and had a blade break during the bend test....without fail its always had to do with either the tempering method, or the length of time the blade(s) where tempered. I've also done my own experiments, and found that in many cases a shorter tempering time only creates a "tempered skin" around the whole exterior of a blade.....generally a 1 hour tempering time on most steels I've tested only gives about a .010-.020 depth of temper (in other words the tempering does not go all the way through the cross section of the blade(s) )


__________________
WWW.CAFFREYKNIVES.NET

Caffreyknives@gmail.com

"Every CHOICE has a CONSEQUENCE, and all your CONSEQUENCES are a result of your CHOICES."
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 04-15-2015, 07:47 PM
RedstickJP RedstickJP is offline
Steel Addict
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posts: 124
How long would you recommend? And no the knife didn't have much taper, hoping to improve on that the next time around. Glad two of you said the grain looks good, I was worried since it was my first HT and since I know an electric furnace is better for o-1 since you can keep the temp even. I do have some 1084 otw for future projects :-)
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 04-15-2015, 11:30 PM
Doug Lester Doug Lester is offline
Hall of Famer
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Decatur, IL
Posts: 2,612
I always temper in two hour cycles. Definitely with something as complex and high carbon as O-1. It would be better for 1084 too.

Doug


__________________
If you're not making mistakes then you're not trying hard enough
Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
1084, 5160, abs, back, blade, brass, carbon, choose, degrees, digital, edge, knife, make, o-1, rod, sharp, show, steel, temper, video, vise


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Test knife jdm61 Ed Caffrey's Workshop 9 01-19-2009 12:04 PM
Knife going for test... nifeman The Display Case 2 09-21-2005 06:33 PM
knife to test... nifeman The Outpost 1 09-21-2005 03:00 PM
ABS JS test knife questions concerning the test BrianT Ed Caffrey's Workshop 3 01-13-2004 08:37 PM
test knife Little Hen Knives The Display Case 4 09-30-2001 05:27 PM


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:59 AM.




KNIFENETWORK.COM
Copyright © 2000
? CKK Industries, Inc. ? All Rights Reserved
Powered by ...

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
The Knife Network : All Rights Reserved