So it didn't seem right trying to post this in a tutorial, so this seems like the next best place. My latest project is a small 8" overall hunter. Taking Joshua's advice I plan to post my progress in the hopes for advice and critique.
It is going to be from 80CrV2 and 303 stainless fittings. I will likely put a stabilized maple burl handle on this one as well.
I typically draft things up on CAD before I heat up any steel, so this is the plan:
I had a chance to forge this up tonight so here is the completed forging:
And a bottom view:
The blade ended up a bit larger than plan and with a little more drop than I wanted, but I can clean that up some. I chickened out on cleaning up the ricasso and tang transition as I got worried about over forging it. I left some material at the edge due to the blade already be larger than I anticipated. I would have preferred to get the edge a little thinner right from the anvil. This is however the closest I have come to a finished shape from the anvil, so that is a sort of progress.
Tomorrow will be normalizing, grain refining and an anneal in the oven. I may coat it with ATP-641 too during the normalizing to avoid potential decarb. Though, I have some grinding to do so that might not matter to much.
Love the design, the tapered tang is a favorite of mine.
Thermal cycling, profiling and grinding complete. Next step is heat treatment. I will certainly have to get the forged shape closer to what I want next time, but the grind went well enough.
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Looking good Adam.
“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.”
Hand sanding complete, I think the edge may be a bit on the thick side before sharpening, it is about .035-.040" thick. I am hoping that is going to result in an okay amount behind behind the edge when I sharpen.
While not perfect, I know where I made a mistake. My thanks to Karl B Andersen for his video on using a milling machine to do the vast majority of the work for a guard. That helped a lot!
The guard is a proper press fit on this one, unlike my last. Still I shaped much of the guard and used JB weld to seal it up. Hopefully I will get more shop time tomorrow.
Hand sanding complete, I think the edge may be a bit on the thick side before sharpening, it is about .035-.040" thick. I am hoping that is going to result in an okay amount behind behind the edge when I sharpen.
I usually harden my blades at about.025" or .030". That ensures full hardness on shallow hardening steels, as well as on deeper hardening steel. Then I do my finish grinding with a slight convex to a near zero edge. I like my edge "almost sharp" just before I sharpen it.
While not perfect, I know where I made a mistake. My thanks to Karl B Andersen for his video on using a milling machine to do the vast majority of the work for a guard. That helped a lot!
Make no mistake - I don't use the mill for the "majority" of the slot - I do it 100%. It's incredibly rare that I touch anything with a file. If I need a .240" slot to fit the knife, that's what I mill to.
I'm glad that video helped you - that's a nice fit.
Hand sanding complete, I think the edge may be a bit on the thick side before sharpening, it is about .035-.040" thick. I am hoping that is going to result in an okay amount behind behind the edge when I sharpen.
I usually harden my blades at about.025" or .030". That ensures full hardness on shallow hardening steels, as well as on deeper hardening steel. Then I do my finish grinding with a slight convex to a near zero edge. I like my edge "almost sharp" just before I sharpen it.
While not perfect, I know where I made a mistake. My thanks to Karl B Andersen for his video on using a milling machine to do the vast majority of the work for a guard. That helped a lot!
Make no mistake - I don't use the mill for the "majority" of the slot - I do it 100%. It's incredibly rare that I touch anything with a file. If I need a .240" slot to fit the knife, that's what I mill to.
I'm glad that video helped you - that's a nice fit.
Thank you Karl, the only filing I ended up needing to do was the radii for the tang. I made a safety edge file from a small square file I had that didn't fit. I also made the slot the same width as you noted and, wow does that work well. What a time saver!
I do wonder, however about your finish grinding to a slight convex edge: After tempering do you maintain the flat grind to a slight transition to convex near the edge or do you actually convex from spine to edge?
I assumed, with many ABS knives, it was mostly a flat grind with a transition to convex, but I just want to make sure I understand what is tried and true when it comes to convex edges.
Thank you Karl, the only filing I ended up needing to do was the radii for the tang. I made a safety edge file from a small square file I had that didn't fit. I also made the slot the same width as you noted and, wow does that work well. What a time saver!
I do wonder, however about your finish grinding to a slight convex edge: After tempering do you maintain the flat grind to a slight transition to convex near the edge or do you actually convex from spine to edge?
I assumed, with many ABS knives, it was mostly a flat grind with a transition to convex, but I just want to make sure I understand what is tried and true when it comes to convex edges.
There are certainly no required grinds or edges. (I don't know what an "ABS Knife" is.) Grind and sharpen your knives according to the task it will perform.
On many of my knives I do a full flat grind and then harden FLAT. Depending on whether it is a heavy use utility knife or a hunter-style or a slicer/kitchen knife depends on how thick the edge is when I harden. Then I take that edge and do the post-hardening finish grinding according to the knife's use.
Sometimes I use a soft-backed belt/platen, sometimes I use the 2 inch space above the platen and below the top wheel, sometimes I use the slack belt or I will use one of the four spaces on my rotary platen - each with its own tension.
It all depends on what and how I want the knife to cut.
Makes sense Karl, thank you.
A bit more progress on my hunter, The handle is okay, I think the fit is pretty good but I am not overly happy with the shape. I think i needed a bit more dimension in the butt. I do like the taper from the top view and it is comfortable enough to hold. This particular burl has a lot of inclusions that I filled with sanding dust and thin super glue, it seems to be working well and hopefully that is an adequate method for long term durability. After the super glue is cleaned up I will wet sanding with Danish oil to fill in any remaining pores or imperfections, let that cure and polish it up.
Well I have completed the knife and it will be heading to NC tomorrow. I am overall happy with it but I would love to get some constructive critiques on it. The handle is okay as I mentioned, I would have preferred more materiel in the butt. The blade a full flat grind with a convex edge. I couldn't really blend the edge with the blade polish perfectly and the convex portion of the edge is certainly shinier than the blade. I am not sure if that is just the nature of it or if I couldn't have something to improve that.
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