Thread: An experiment in steel

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

Magnification should not be needed. If it's a fine gray smooth surface you're on the right track. Grain growth that's bad is like sand, you can't miss it.

Try tempering one of your leftover pieces for a couple hours at 400 F then attempt to break that piece and see if you notice a difference.

I'm not sure I'll be able to break it, I had to pull pretty hard on the piece I did to get it to break, but when it did, it snapped like glass...
if I temper one of the small pieces I have left, I doubt I have a chance of breaking them...
I'll try later in the week, any hints on what I should expect?
I have the light grey satin look that feels almost velvety right now.

wrap the steel in a old heave cloth clamp the works in a vice and hit it witha hsammer
you dont need to have much hanging out the top and you can get multi brakes
also you can score the one side of the steel on the grinder to make it easer to brake

Originally Posted by Mike_ratliff

I'm not sure I'll be able to break it, I had to pull pretty hard on the piece I did to get it to break, but when it did, it snapped like glass...
if I temper one of the small pieces I have left, I doubt I have a chance of breaking them...
I'll try later in the week, any hints on what I should expect?
I have the light grey satin look that feels almost velvety right now.

Okay, lots to cover here
I took a block of olive wood with a nice grain, cut strips from it using my bandsaw, and sanded them flat...
I glued them together, cut out my pattern, and drilled holes for my pins...
A bit more sanding, and here we are


tonight they get placed in nelsonite, I will create a vaccume in my jar by carefully heating my container of nelsonite outside and in a well ventilated area...
After a good long soak, they'll get finished, and I can hone the razors.

Hey Mike,

I don't know much about wood working, but your description of the vacuum process intrigues me. Would you mind telling me how it works, and what exactly it will accomplish?

Thanks.

Nelsonite is a wood stabilizer, by impregnating the scales with it I discourage warping and other wood related problems from developing down the road ...

Introducing a vaccum pulls the stabilizer deeper into the wood.

There are several ways to create your vaccum, the easiest way is to use a large mason jar, heat your stabilizer in the jar, a pot of very hot water works well for this...
Seal the jar and allow it to cool.
The cooling creates low pressure inside the jar and forces the nelsonite deep into the wood.
I know it sounds wrong, low pressure in the jar should pull the oils out of the wood, but somehow it does work... I think it is a rebound effect. The vaccum opens the pores of the wood and allows the nelsonite in deeper, and as the vaccum is released, the pores close and hold the stabilizer better.
I have seen threads on this before, maybe someone else can explain it better.

There are also ways to create vaccum chambers if you look around...

looking great mike! love that olive

Originally Posted by Del1r1um

looking great mike! love that olive

far from perfect, but getting there...