What to do while tempering (a 7/8 Frenchy work in progress)

I got two 8" choppers rough ground and HT'ed and in the oven for tempering and needed something to do. Here are the choppers:

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Here's what I started:

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After talking to Bob and Charlie at the Texas meet, I wanted to make one really badly. I gouged this out of a chunk of 1/4" thick Starrett O1. Now it's rough ground. It still needs a bit of refining (and a pin hole) before HT, but that's the point of a WIP thread!

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More to come later this week (and some chopper updates if y'all want 'em!).

Just be careful with that spike point. Attachment 160831

I did this from the end of a square point this morning and my three year old said, "Daddy, there's blood everywhere!"

I like the shape of those knives. look forward to seeing them (and the razor) completed.

Yeah, that spike'll get ya! I may dull it a bit, but it's far from finished.

Glad you like the shape of the knives. It's a slight swayback with a drop point, which makes it easy to roll the blade while chopping. Each one will have a single mosaic pin (I drilled the hole before HT, don't worry) and I'm thinking something burly for the handle material.

Finished rough grinding to 220. Then did the initial HT. Man, I love O1! Couldn't be simpler!
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I know the pivot hole looks big and that's because it is! Pixel said that he could only abide big pivots on custom razors and guess what this is. I got some pivots similar to Hart Steel's.

Here it is with some scale on it. She looks pretty good in matte black, huh?
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Razor from the front. Maybe 1/4 hollow.
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Chopper from front. You can see the distal taper pretty well.
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Here's the business side of it. It's got a nice roll to it.
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Meant to say that the choppers finished tempering (2 times for 2 hours at 425) and that I got the scale off one of them.
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They're both going to have a single mosaic pin when they're done.

You seem to have a natural ability working steel, is this your first time with knives/razors?

nice job, makes me jealous. making knives/razors has always been something i've dreamed of doing.

Thanks! This is my second attempt at a razor. My first one ran into a couple of problems. Although I do think I could get it shaving, you just gotta know when to walk away sometimes.

Knives, on the other hand, I am not new to. I used to be a chef (and still cook a lot), so I had to develop a lot of knife skills, but had never made one. I've always loved working with my hands and was pretty decent at woodworking, but had never done anything with steel apart from some welding and fixing dents in cars. I really started wanting to make knives and razors when I found this forum. I saved up for a belt grinder and got a lot of other tools from craigslist and started making them. While you can learn a ton online, it's no substitute for real practice.

tintin: come on down to Texas. Us and Shooter can have a mini hammer in!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shooter74743

You seem to have a natural ability working steel, is this your first time with knives/razors?

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Had a productive Saturday. I put an edge on both the choppers and commenced to strength test them. I chopped through a few branches with zero visible edge wear and still able to shave hair.
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Then I got the handle glued up.
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Roughed them out on the belt grinder.
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Here's the other one in canvas micarta.
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Got the the handle pretty much finished and put it through the hanging rope test. No visible edge damage after, still able to shave.
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The finished pair. The one on the left is the one in 5160 with a stabilized buckeye burl handle and a single mosaic pin. The right is 52100 in canvas micarta also with a single mosaic pin. They were honed with a DMT coarse, Norton 1k, Norton 4k and Shapton 8k pyramided.
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Loving your work. Especially good to see you test your blades for performance. :tuSurprising how many people do not.
Keep 'em coming.
Adam

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Adam G.

Loving your work. Especially good to see you test your blades for performance. :tuSurprising how many people do not.
Keep 'em coming.
Adam

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Thanks Adam. I guess it's easier to send out a sub-par blade than remake the whole thing! I cooked with the micarta one last night and it performed really well. I'm loving the handle design on these; I'll definitely do more like this. It's comfortable and functional.
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A bit better finished pics:
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Well, I snapped the tail off the original Frenchy trying to straighten it. I made another one though, same design. This one 13/16 out of O1 in Osage Orange scales. I took it up to 600 grit on the KMG, then hand sanded to 1200.
Attachment 161796
The bevel is a little wide, but even.
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Next to a Hart 7/8 for comparison:
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I set the bevel on a DMT coarse then moved to Norton 1k then Norton 4k and Shapton 8k which I pyramided. From there, I finished on a JNat with slurry, diluting down as I went and then CrOx on balsa. Then, linen and leather. I got the heat treat dead perfect. The shave was buttery smooth. It even went through my thick beard ATG, which is a feat I've only pulled off with a Wonderedge and the Robert Williams SRP.

Nice work man!
Can you please explain how exactly temper O1 steel? Temperature and etc.

Thanks Davor!

I heat treat O1 as follows:
Normalize (stress relief): bring up to 1250 (F) slowly, cool to black
Hardening: bring up to 1475 (F) and hold for 10 mins, quench in a medium speed oil that's around 140 (F). When I quench, it's really an interrupted or marquench meaning I quench in oil, agitate rapidly, and pull out while the oil still smokes when the blade touches it. From there, you can either air cool or pop it in an oven for tempering at 425 (F).
Cryo: at this point, you can cryo your blade for added tensile strength (check out Tim Zowada's website for some info on this), but I've done non-cryoed blades that cut great too.
Temper: 2 hours at 425 (F) produces an HRC of a bit higher than 61, which is my preference for razors and an ideal hardness for O1.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by davorvfr

Nice work man!
Can you please explain how exactly temper O1 steel? Temperature and etc.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by PapaTony

Thanks Davor!

I heat treat O1 as follows:
Normalize (stress relief): bring up to 1250 (F) slowly, cool to black
Hardening: bring up to 1475 (F) and hold for 10 mins, quench in a medium speed oil that's around 140 (F). When I quench, it's really an interrupted or marquench meaning I quench in oil, agitate rapidly, and pull out while the oil still smokes when the blade touches it. From there, you can either air cool or pop it in an oven for tempering at 425 (F).
Cryo: at this point, you can cryo your blade for added tensile strength (check out Tim Zowada's website for some info on this), but I've done non-cryoed blades that cut great too.
Temper: 2 hours at 425 (F) produces an HRC of a bit higher than 61, which is my preference for razors and an ideal hardness for O1.

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Thank you very much. This is very exactly even more that I expected! Thanks a lot, I will give a try.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by davorvfr

Thank you very much. This is very exactly even more that I expected! Thanks a lot, I will give a try.

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Well, if you get one thing right, better make sure it's the HT! With so thin a blade and so perfect an edge, if you mess it up you'll definitely find out, likely before you ever get an edge on it.

I've got a Hart Steel and it just wont take a good edge, no matter what I do. They're cryoed and salt bath HTed, but I still prefer the edge on the blades that have come out of my forge. Wouldn't mind getting a kiln though...

Salt baths are the cream of the crop for absolute temp control, one of our local HT masters uses it and if I hit the lottery I would use it too.

If you would like someone else to try an edge on your Hart, PM me & cover the shipping. I can tell you within a few minutes on the stones if the HT is blown.

Thanks for the offer shooter. I don't think the HT was blown, it just has an ugly hone job on it right now. The shave is uncomfortable. I think I need to reset the bevel on the stupid thing, but just have better things to do right now. I took it to my Shapton 8k to try to get something out of it, then finished on a Jnat, crox, strop and it wasn't good. Then, I took it down to 4k and back through the same progression and it was still ugly. Really, it feels like someone set the bevel on this (already 1/4" thick blade) with like 5 layers of tape.

The razor I made above shaves great and I've taken several other from trash to nice-shaver. I think all that's left to do is butter knife this one and put my own edge on it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shooter74743

Salt baths are the cream of the crop for absolute temp control, one of our local HT masters uses it and if I hit the lottery I would use it too.

If you would like someone else to try an edge on your Hart, PM me & cover the shipping. I can tell you within a few minutes on the stones if the HT is blown.

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Beautiful.

My brother taking it for a test drive:
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He'd never shaved with a custom razor before and loved the feel of it. The french point did get him, but only a little bit:)

In case y'all only look at the Forge, I finished the Frenchy's brother last night and shave tested it:
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That's some good looking hollow grinding, bevel is uniform...nice job!

I love the tail on this one! Great job.

- mikeo