Custom round knife specs

[chuck123wapati]

6 hours ago, dikman said:

Clintonville, what did you use to heat it to harden it? The steel shows signs of having been overheated. I'm only saying this because I just did the same thing when I made my (round) knives, soaked them too long in the forge!

I'm getting the urge to feel that dragons breath myself now lol. Maybe time to spoil myself with a new skiver also.

[Frodo]

12 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

I'm getting the urge to feel that dragons breath myself now lol. Maybe time to spoil myself with a new skiver also.

Need any RR spikes? 

 

 

quench it in oil

Edited May 1, 2020 by Frodo

[chuck123wapati]

12 minutes ago, Frodo said:

Need any RR spikes? 

I have plenty of those thanks! Live on the up line lol. Photod Big boy last year when it came through. Union Pacific 4014 is a steam locomotive owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad. It is a four-cylinder simple articulated 4-8-8-4 "Big Boy" type built in 1941 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Schenectady, New York. No. 4014 is the only operating Big Boy of the eight that remain in existence.

Edited May 1, 2020 by chuck123wapati
added

[dikman]

What a beast!!. That's one thing I like about my coke forge, it makes me think of steam trains.

[Clintonville Leather]

On 5/1/2020 at 1:32 AM, dikman said:

Clintonville, what did you use to heat it to harden it? The steel shows signs of having been overheated. I'm only saying this because I just did the same thing when I made my (round) knives, soaked them too long in the forge!

It may have been overheated.  I heated it in a propane forge to just past magnetic.  I dont have any high temp thermometers.

[dikman]

1 hour ago, Clintonville Leather said:

  I dont have any high temp thermometers.

Neither do I, it's all about experience and learning to judge when it's right. Unfortunately I mis-judged my last one just a tad but as in your case it still works.

[Clintonville Leather]

3 hours ago, dikman said:

Neither do I, it's all about experience and learning to judge when it's right. Unfortunately I mis-judged my last one just a tad but as in your case it still works.

I figure it is fine.  I did a low temp temper around 350F it is solely for slicing leather so I am not worried about it chipping or anything.

[Chef niloc]

I see this is a somewhat old post but just in case your still looking and or if someone finds this thread in a search looking for similar information:

I’ve had a lot of custom knives made from many different makers over the years, it’s kind of “my thing lol’. Hers what I would do:

‘tell him you want a convex grind right to the edge, that’s the most important part. Convex edge will cut better and more importantly hold up longer. A bit more tricky to sharpen yourself but easy to maintain on a leather strop and to resharpen just serch “mouse pad knife sharpening” Which is basically using as you guessed it a mouse pad and wet dry sandpaper, I’d recommend this way of sharpening a round knife to anyone and everyone, there may even be a post or two on this sight about it, dont remember ?

Tell him to  make it as thin as possible, trust me it won’t be able to make it “ too thin“, most (all in my experience)  knife makers tend  go to thick, telling them to go as thin as they can has given me the best results over the years. 

5 1/4 to 6” tip to tip is kind of a big knife IMO  but if you have one that size and like it then great, I personally prefer mine about 4-4.5”; again just my preference.

2nd best bit of advice (next to the convex grind) is give the maker a knife that you like, you can talk with him about any changes to that design  you may want but at lest he has something to work off of. At the very least some pictures (make sure they are to scale in size)

I don’t want to discourage you  (or anyone reading this ) but I thought I’d mention that in my experiences a maker who has never made (or even used) a leather round knife has very little luck making a good one there 1st time out. The good/great ones I’ve had made were from makers who already had experience with them, and most were master Blade smiths with years and years of experience under there belts. They are kind of tricky to grind as they are different from most other types of knives a maker would be use to making.

best of luck 

 

oh you/ he didn’t mention what type of steel (or I missed that) 52100 is without a doubt the best steel for the job. It is carbon so it could rust and the tannins in the leather will make maintaining the edge (leather strop) more frequently  necessary, but 52100 is the best cutter, go about 68-72 Rc. If a stainless steel blade is a must,  and or a blade that won’t require as much maintenance I’d go with AEB-L it’s the steel used to make razor blades, very very close to 52100 in cutting performance, may even be a better choice if you’re doing a lot of cutting at one time/ production work. 

Edited May 29, 2020 by Chef niloc

[Clintonville Leather]

On 5/29/2020 at 12:48 PM, Chef niloc said:

I see this is a somewhat old post but just in case your still looking and or if someone finds this thread in a search looking for similar information:

I’ve had a lot of custom knives made from many different makers over the years, it’s kind of “my thing lol’. Hers what I would do:

‘tell him you want a convex grind right to the edge, that’s the most important part. Convex edge will cut better and more importantly hold up longer. A bit more tricky to sharpen yourself but easy to maintain on a leather strop and to resharpen just serch “mouse pad knife sharpening” Which is basically using as you guessed it a mouse pad and wet dry sandpaper, I’d recommend this way of sharpening a round knife to anyone and everyone, there may even be a post or two on this sight about it, dont remember ?

Tell him to  make it as thin as possible, trust me it won’t be able to make it “ too thin“, most (all in my experience)  knife makers tend  go to thick, telling them to go as thin as they can has given me the best results over the years. 

5 1/4 to 6” tip to tip is kind of a big knife IMO  but if you have one that size and like it then great, I personally prefer mine about 4-4.5”; again just my preference.

2nd best bit of advice (next to the convex grind) is give the maker a knife that you like, you can talk with him about any changes to that design  you may want but at lest he has something to work off of. At the very least some pictures (make sure they are to scale in size)

I don’t want to discourage you  (or anyone reading this ) but I thought I’d mention that in my experiences a maker who has never made (or even used) a leather round knife has very little luck making a good one there 1st time out. The good/great ones I’ve had made were from makers who already had experience with them, and most were master Blade smiths with years and years of experience under there belts. They are kind of tricky to grind as they are different from most other types of knives a maker would be use to making.

best of luck 

 

oh you/ he didn’t mention what type of steel (or I missed that) 52100 is without a doubt the best steel for the job. It is carbon so it could rust and the tannins in the leather will make maintaining the edge (leather strop) more frequently  necessary, but 52100 is the best cutter, go about 68-72 Rc. If a stainless steel blade is a must,  and or a blade that won’t require as much maintenance I’d go with AEB-L it’s the steel used to make razor blades, very very close to 52100 in cutting performance, may even be a better choice if you’re doing a lot of cutting at one time/ production work. 

A lot of good info here.  The pairing knife I made was 1/8" and I can tell thinner would be better.  I am not sure how many stock incrememts are smaller guess I will try 1/16 for a trim knife.

[chuck123wapati]

2 hours ago, Clintonville Leather said:

A lot of good info here.  The pairing knife I made was 1/8" and I can tell thinner would be better.  I am not sure how many stock incrememts are smaller guess I will try 1/16 for a trim knife.

If you make a knife with 1/16 th steel and try to have it hardened to 68 /72 rc it could very well break when you drop it the first time or it could break while in use and that could be really bad for you. a thin super hard blade is a recipe for disaster, blades like that are made to shave hair with little pressure or force applied to the metal, cutting leather is a lot different process. Most premium blades don't go over 66 rc.  However from what I've read in my books if you do use 52100 it maxs out at 66rc with the optimum in toughness/hardness ratio at 57 rc  which is very good and wont need diamond stones to sharpen it. Austenitize at 1475 temper at 300 -400   A convex grind or what some call an axe grind is the toughest grind design you can have as far as breakability, that's why they use it on axes but it doesn't work as well as a straight grind for knives intended for cutting IMO AS the shape creates more drag and has a higher edge angle. It may be a very good option for you however and a personal choice. I've never made one, a round knife that is, with that edge design I have made working knives with convex grinds but they were meant for more punishment, chopping, hacking and such and were also lower in hardness so they didn't chip or break. A high polish will also help on the edge whatever the design, less drag. Don't forget to show us the creation!!