Good Morning and hello from England,
I am a hobby knifemaker and have made about a dozen knives most through stock removal, I like carbon steels and the flexibility and versatility that it offers regarding heat treatment. I also like patina on a blade made from carbon steel and so far have had one attempt at a hamon which, despite several mistakes turned out OK in the end. I have a simple forge and have recently made a couple of forged knives, which I believe is the essence of the craft.
Being a welder and fabricator by trade, have an interest of metallurgy in general and the dynamics of a multiple quench in particular.
All the Best
Wayne
Welcome! I wanted to chime in for you here because there is so much that I wish I would have read when I got started, before I did things like buy steel or try things. Any of the MS rated people will probably give you some great recommendations far beyond what I will say here, so take that I am newbie into consideration, but here is my best shot:
1) ABS Links: https://www.americanbladesmith.org/resources/
- “The Ups and Downs of Austenite” by Kevin Cashen, MS
- “Everything You Wanted to Know About Martensite…” by Kevin Cashen, MS
- “Some Metallurgical Facts About Blade Forging” by Kevin Cashen, MS
- “Heat Treating” by Bill Moran, MS
- “Heat Treating” by Jerry Fisk, MS
2) ABS Post From Mr. Cashen: Heat Treatment Or Geometry, Which Is More Important?
- This one includes Lin Rhea and Mr. Cashen, great read:
3) YouTube:
- Any of the ABS MS are great to look up
- Since you are from UK: https://www.youtube.com/@UKBladeshow
- Or this guy: https://www.youtube.com/@KnifeSteelNerds/videos
- ABS Page: https://www.youtube.com/@americanbladesmith
4) Abs Books and Videos:
- https://www.americanbladesmith.org/shop/
Cheers.
Respectfully
Michael
I wanted to used this my old link for this location earlier but it wasn't looking. If you go to this link: https://www.americanbladesmith.org/community/heat-treatment-and-metallurgy/guides-to-common-bladsmithing-steels/#post-24252 it will discuss the different steels that Mr. Cashen provides information on in further posts, but if you go to the above headline you can find: 1080, 1084, 1095, 5160, 52100, O-1, L-6, and W-2 Located under the headline post: https://www.americanbladesmith.org/community/heat-treatment-and-metallurgy/
Respectfully
Michael
HI Michael,
Thanks for those links, very interesting reading.
