DIY Knifemaking: Droppoint Hunter

[astronomy.domaine]

@ Adrian: welcome to the forum!
Well, I use pre tempered tool grade steel in most of my knives. Its usually between 54-58 hrc. Not the ideal hardness but fairly OK. Unfortunately, its exceedingly difficult to
have access to a decent temper/heat-treat facility here, specially for such small volumes.

[astronomy.domaine]

@ SMJ: that's strange! are you able to see the links? You can use them to view the pics directly at www.imageshack.com

[Adrian Mario Cooke]

Hi Astronomy,
Using tempered tool grade steel must be tough,it will heat up while grinding,more usage of power tools and more time.
If you check back some time ago i posted pics of a Tanto and a Bowie - No power tools used only hand rubbing upto 600 grit wet and dry.
Then Natural air tempering, check on line for air tempering process.
Works pretty hard,have used the Bowie on Roast turkey during Christmas and the heavy bones were a breeze to chop through.
The Tanto i tested by swinging against a pole of wood used for building construct and sunk it all the way in.had a tough time pulling it out.
I chose air tempering because i read many articles where good blades are damaged during oil and water tempering.
Regards,
Adrian.

[astronomy.domaine]

@Adrian- you are right about the tool steel. Its tougher to work on and just eats through grinding disks. I tend to go slow with power tools and use water to keep the surface temp low. I guess that's a tradeoff for skipping the normal tempering process.
Air tempering and case hardening is definitely on my 'to do' list.

[SMJ]

Hi AD, somehow I could not view them last time i logged in... Anyways just did, what a fantastic job mate- they look awesome

[Lanceman]

Spectacular work Astronomy. Beautiful finish. Where did you get the tool steel and which one is it?

[astronomy.domaine]

Spectacular work Astronomy. Beautiful finish. Where did you get the tool steel and which one is it?

Thanks @Lanceman!
The steel, I believe, is carbon alloy A2 or D2. The most commonly used variety for industrial shearing blades, chisels, rasps etc. In India. It comes partially heat treated and has hardness in the range of 54 to 58/60 HRC.

[essdee1972]

AD, there are tutorials mentioning tempering in an oven at ~300-400 degrees C. Cake oven or microwave oven in convection mode.

[astronomy.domaine]

AD, there are tutorials mentioning tempering in an oven at ~300-400 degrees C. Cake oven or microwave oven in convection mode.

@essdee1972: those are procedures for post heat treat tempering (relieving stress by partial softening) in hardened steel. And not for the hardening process itself, which requires temperatures of at least 900degC and above.

[kshitij]

@AD, you are right about the tempering.
Also generally all tool steels are pre hardened and tempered, i.e files, saw blades etc already have some kind of heat treat and temper done. The knives made from them may not be as good as a high quality knife but is a decent place to start for newbie/cheap knife making.
In my little experience, the trick with them is to not let the metal get too hot while processing the blade blank from the original metal tool/plate. So i normally dip the blank in water while putting a bevel on it, this keeps the blade cool and hopeflly doesnt ruin the original heat treat.

*I must add, i am no expert and only starting to find my feet in knife making, so i may be wrong with my assumptions