My cousin Jamie she is an ICU nurse and also no longer living anywhere near MN so she is completely away from all family support outside of FB and telephone, and with the pandemic its likely very hard on her, she also likes knives, and well i made here something when I had a year of experience, my skills have massively improved since then I want to make and send her something much, much nicer. I originally had intended to make her something from surgical steel however i could not figure out just what surgical steel is so I used Cru forge V to make her a blade as that was one of my favorite steels to work, however this time I want to make something from a 'medical grade' stainless steel, that hopefully, I can heat treat myself since I do not have a dedicated HT oven right now I have to use my forge to heat the blade however I do now own a thermal couple so I can tune my heat better I could before however I really want to make this form a medical-grade stainless so I will send it out for HT if all medical grade stainless steels are outside the possibility of my equipment.
According to Wiki pedia: Surgical stainless steel is a grade of stainless steel used in biomedical applications. The most common "surgical steels" are austenitic SAE 316 stainless and martensitic SAE 440, SAE 420, and 17-4 stainless steels.[1]
Karl B. Andersen
Journeyman Smith
"Surgical Stainless" is also used as a "catch phrase" for advertising.....hoping to give a particular product "wow factor", so you see/hear it in many places where it doesn't even apply. For the most part, in the knife world, the phrase "Surgical Stainless Steel" means cheap, and/or that the individual or company using the phrase doesn't have any idea of what steel they are offering. My wife gets mad at me, because I yell at the TV when those ads for "gold coated surgical stainless steel blades" comes on. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />
About the only steels that are often labeled as "surgical stainless" that could be used for blades are 420 and/or 440C, both require a heat treat oven for best results. Of the two, the one recognized as a "knife" steel the most is 440C. There is also 440A and 440B.....make sure you don't use those. <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//wink.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />
Ed Caffrey, ABS MS
"The Montana Bladesmith"
www.CaffreyKnives.net
First thank you Karl B. Andersen and Ed Caffrey now I have decided on making a 'reverse blade' Kaiken tanto for her as to my eyes the Norse type II seax blade looks a lot like a Shinogi tanto without the Kesaki and we have some Scandinavian/viking genetics in are family. So am thinking that I will be using 316 for the blades fittings and passably the hibaki and then go with a canister and use some disposable scalpels as the primary ingredient in the canister as I know scalpels are now made as consumable items and when you think on it something made in a sterile environment once is just more sterile than a new object used every time rather than recycling an old tool over and over. So next I need to go look at scalpels on amazon.
Note: actually going to switch to the bowie knife, as Mary Edwards Walker M.D., who is currently the only woman to ever reserve the Medal of honor served in the civil war was forced to serve as a nurse at first despite being a trained surgeon. so i decided to make the iconic civil war era knife despite the fact I am not too fond of them.
