Joseph. no that is not normal. I usually take my edges on a chopper to .020 to .025 then convex the edge. You did not say what your heat treat regimen is. That might be a place to start. If you have one area that rolled and another that chipped that would tell me it is an uneven heat treat. How did you heat treat the blade?

Brion

I think you'd get more people to speculate if you posted photos, especially of the edge with the chipping and rolling.

Bummer it didn't work out, but if you (and we) learn from it, it's still worth something!

Joseph,

It may seen counterintuitive, but a low carbon steel probably would not chip, it being soft in it's natural state and not work hardened. It'll wrinkle easy.

There is a lot of details unknown to be of much help.

I'd like to know how many chops you made before you noticed the chips and wrinkles?

Also, which did you see first? The wrinkles or chips?

One more thing, In a given spot, did it wrinkle, then chip?

You say you know it was too thin. Why did you not roll the edge back to a more appropriate thickness?

Even one more thing, what indicators did you used to determine it was heat treated to perfection?

This is not a form of entrapment <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /> . The questions are sincere.

Yup, good info above. Pics would also be helpful, as already mentioned. I once tested a 1080 blade on a piece of hard old antler...and it chipped like the dickens... The temper times/temperature were off, making it too brittle. I learned a few different things from that knife, though. The chipping was consistent through the entirety of the edge, so I knew at least the whole edge hardened appropriately/evenly. I then took the finished blade over to a vise and bent it over until it broke. Getting to physically see what was going on inside was also very helpful-while not perfect, the "grain" appeared very nice.

All that to say, sometimes we can learn the most from the knives that don't end up performing how we expected. It can hurt busting a knife you worked so hard on, but the confidence and teaching it can provide are very valuable. I still have that knife, along with a few other broken ones along the way... That's not to say you should just go breaking every knife in half that needs an extra tempering cycle <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//wink.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />. Post your exact heat treat process for these guys to help you with. That should be able to answer a lot of what's going on. And on the bright side of things-way better you find out the heat treat was off yourself than someone you give it to or pays for it. This will only help you refine your process and be a better maker. Don't get too down on yourself, we've all been there <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//wink.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />.

Jeremy

Would love to see what the grain structure looked like at the chips.

Shaw