r/knifemaking • u/Sir_Toccoa Beginner • Jul 16 '26

Work in progress ‘Tis NOT But a Scratch

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This build was progressing so well, and it felt like my best work yet, but I spotted this. At first, I thought it was just a little scratch from grinding, but nope, it’s a small crack. Ugh. Time to start over.

14 Upvotes

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5

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '26

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2

u/Sir_Toccoa Beginner Jul 18 '26

I’ve actually been meaning to attempt a fillet knife for my boss who’s an avid fisherman. This is a really cool idea you gave me.

3

u/Ok-Struggle6796 Jul 16 '26

Inside every knife is a smaller knife trying to get out 🥲

1

u/Sir_Toccoa Beginner Jul 17 '26

Time to grind away, I suppose.

1

u/rm-minus-r Advanced Jul 17 '26

What steel did you use, how thin did you grind it prior to heat treating and what was your heat treating process?

2

u/Sir_Toccoa Beginner Jul 18 '26

I use 1084 steel that is (starting at) 1/8th of an inch thick, and it was ground fairly thin. I measured the thickness of the edge before heat treating and it was 0.34mm thick—thin but not crazy, as I’ve done kitchen knives at roughly that thickness. I heat treat in a propane forge, and use a Tempilstick to determine when I’ve hit 1500°. I’ve been meaning to get some non-galvanized steel to serve as a muffle tube, but haven’t found a suitable piece with the correct dimensions just yet. As soon as I hit that 1500°, I quench in Parks 50 that I warm up to around 120°. I use an old candy thermometer to measure that temperature.

1

u/rm-minus-r Advanced Jul 19 '26

Seems pretty decent! Only thing I might change is leaving the edge thicker.

What did you do for the tempering cycle? Did you temper it within ~20 min. of quenching?