This is my first excursion with 5160. Before this, mostly O1, some 1095 and 440C.
What a bastard. Takes two or three times as long to cut as O1, and dulls a saw blade two or three times as fast. I'm halfway done, and I hate this steel. That long cut across the spine is absolutely necessary (I have plans for the strip so I can't just grind it away), and it's going to be nothing but frustration.
Seven more to go. Gonna leave the layout blue on there to protect the metal. I will rough in the bevels on the grinder, but I still have about three hours worth of work to do with files.
Like I said, 5160 isn't impressed by hacksaw blades, but a stone wheel grinder removes it handily! I bought an oversize piece because it was cheap in terms of dollars, but the next time I use this steel, I'm going to plan more carefully, so that I can do as much stock removal with the grinder as possible. Overall, the extra effort and frustration of having to chip away at it with a hand hacksaw doesn't get anywhere near the cost savings. There are ways to juggle time, money, and effort around (I could take the pattern to Tiburon Waterjet, who have done well for me in the past), but I haven't decided anything yet.
I think I'm going to finish this one, and try it out. I have no experience with the cutting performance of 5160, and it's capabilities are going to be the deciding factor.
Since 5160 is supposed to be tough, I decided to take the bevels up a little higher. Once it comes back from HT, I will be shooting for a convex zero bevel, which should make it a good compromise between chopping and cutting.
I bought a big chunk of 5160 from McMaster-Carr because it was the only place that I could get something wide enough. I should have been paying attention.
The reason I had so much trouble is because 5160 will air harden, and hot rolling leaves it hot enough to do that. I've been trying to work this stuff at about 50% of finished hardness.
Anyway, I'm at a standstill until I can figure out how to anneal it, so it's time for pictures!
I knew as soon as I saw the sweep of the blade spine that the top strip was going to be a long, funky kiridashi. I may make the edge longer, but not until I've given it a hot bath.
I've still got some 440C (which I know is annealed), and a pattern that I like.
I guess I'm going to do a few of this same kind of shape. The ergonomics are just so-so, but I like the look of the thing.
So I'm calling it the "everyday camp knife". It's a little big for around the sheeple, but if you're a little ways out, where folks don't blink if you open carry, it's about the right size for doing most anything.
I'm going to start around 7:30 tomorrow morning, and my goal is to be finished by 10:00 tommorrow night. It's 3/16, which takes less grunt work, but since tomorrow is also Mother's Day, it's probably going to trail over into Monday.
More posts as I decide to take breaks through the day.
I noticed that if you shorten up "everyday camp knife" to just it's first letters, you get "eck", the kind of noise people make when they get their hand on something sticky without knowing it ahead of time.
Sometimes, the Universe reminds you not to take yourself so seriously....
12 hours later. I don't think I'm going to meet the goal I set for myself.
I just haven't felt the same urgency with this one that I did with the Seax. It's not like I have any other hobbies or things to do right now, so I'll keep going with this.
With Blade Show coming up, Peter's Heat Treat is really busy. They're A+ all the way, so I'm not worried.
While I'm waiting for my knives to get back, I may as well finish up the second "eck".
I ran the bevels up higher, just to see what it looked like. I'm proud of being able to get such a low bevel angle to be convex, but I don't like how thin it is. This one is into factory knife bevel angle territory, and it pretty much defeats the purpose of making my own convex knives. I'm sure it's still more durable than an equivalent concave bevel.
Bullshit question, right? For most, yes. For me, it's interesting.
I've run into fear of knives, and it got me thinking about what makes a cutting tool look like a knife, and where that distinction gets murky.
Kiridashis fascinate me too, so I've been trying to find the point where a kiridashi becomes a more "conventional", by Western standards, "knife".
One of the easiest ways to blur that line is by scaling up a kiridashi to regular knife sizes. A handy thing, since I've got some ideas about what makes a knife useful for EDC, and kiri's are generally too small.
So, this one is 8" OAL, more of that 3/16 440C, blade just over 4". Chisel ground for the haters, and because, kiridashi.
My first batch of heat-treated knife-like objects came back from Peter's.
(Wooooooooo Hooooooooo!!!!)
This is one of the smaller ones. Still have to put an edge on it, but you get the general idea. The prybar is there because it was doing work as a fid for pulling the knot tight.
Turk's Head knot in the front, and Strider wrap for the rest of it. Nice and simple, with a little bit of a tail for whatever you want to do with it.
Close-up to show the patina.
I scrubbed off the quenching scale with 150 and a wire brush. Had to sand pretty hard to get rid of the scratches where they polished for the Rockwell test, but Rc testing is part of the service, so I ain't complaining.
Once I sanded them down, I found this amazing, organic surface finish that looked so good that I stopped. The results are what you see. It looks like it's had some adventures, and that's one of the few things that really turned out right with these.
Did I mention I like these low-angle, point-on shots? I did? Good.
It doesn't really give you a good idea of what the knife looks like, but works as a starting or finishing shot for dramatic impact.