I totally dig it, nice work!
The knife gods often demand a blood sacrifice. I always wear eye protection, almost always a respirator, but never gloves. Not interested in having anything pulled into equipment and having my hand mangled...
I totally dig it, nice work!
This 52100 blade has been tested to 90 degrees in both directions more than a dozen times...never even close to any issues.
I wouldn't do it on any of the knives that I have purchased, but I feel it is incumbent on the knife maker to do some destructive testing, to study the grain structure, and be able to verify hardness.
+1
Thanks, I appreciate it.
Carter, what is the advantage/disadvantage of doing water v. Oil?Carter wrote: ↑Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:36 pm Thought I would show the first blade made of W2 that I heat treated. I put clay on it for differential hardening and then heated it to 1460F before quenching in water. I knew the water quench was risky, but decided to give it a go. All seemed good, but shortly after pulling it out of the water, I heard the dreaded ping...a large crack developed at the choil area. I then noticed a second crack closer to the tip....I dropped the knife to the ground to see what would happen and the whole tip came off. Straight out of the oven and water quenched, the blade should be around 67HRC and very brittle. I wasn't happy with the result, but it kept me from having to purposely break a blade to view the grain structure. I was pleased with the grain in this blade....it is very fine. I never tempered this blade, so it is still very hard. I cut a 10 penny nail with it and there was absolutely no chipping or rolling of the edge....I thought it would chip due to the high hardness.
The second W2 petty I made, the one in the post above, was quenched in heated canola oil (same as I use for 52100) and it came out like a champ. I also made 2 other W2 blades and did an interrupted quench of oil then water....all seems good with them. I am getting a bench top Rockwell hardness tester next week, so I will be able to accurately measure the hardness of my blades. These W2 blades should be a little harder than my 52100 blades.
Water - higher potential harndess and a more delineated hamon, but risky for cracking