Thread: Another newbie

Hi all,

Just wanted to post a few pictures of my first attempts using O1 tool steel and some really basic tools.

I bought a bar of 1/4" x 2" O1 steel and set about tracing my beloved W&B Irish/oblique point for a first attempt.


Man, that steel is hard already (and I am conscious of not overheating, although have shown yellow/blue marks at a few 'oops' points).

I found a 1x42 belt grinder for $50 and have worn out two belts... which is good, actually, as I have learned how they cut at different points in their lives. The triangular AlSi or whatever it is cuts like magic, but makes a nice mellow belt when it's old. I went through two bits to drill that one little hole! I have a drill press coming next week for another $50.



My grinding skill isn't great (and the grinder has a hard plastic contact wheel), but they are shaping up ok so far. If anyone has suggestions for how to blend better, please let me know. The rounded blade was done purely by belt sander (except for initial shaping by angle grinder and hacksaw, and maybe a bit on the bench grinder).

As for the cleaver/square point, even though I intended to take the mirror image cutaway from the other blade and work it, I like the simple shape so far. I may add some embellishment to the handle or cut it away to resemble a Lewis one-piece (thanks for sharing your pics and videos, BTW!). It was hollowed purely on the 8" bench grinder with grey wheels (two grits) as a learning experience. I'm pretty satisfied with the progress... it's uniform at least, but it heats really fast.

Next will be some additional cleanup and then I have to tackle the heat treat. That's got me worried... will see if I can double the bbq and pencil torch, or maybe build something. There may be other makers nearby, but I'm already buying machines and consumables... this could get expensive!

One question: can you forge O1? I don't think so, but thought I'd ask.

Ok, thanks for looking. As I say, I'm a total newbie, so any suggestions are welcome.

Cheers,
Atchbo

Absolutely, you can forge O1. I rough forge, then pre-heat treat grind. Then anneal, normalize, and heat treat. It is a lot easier with a forge, which can be built for not a lot of money - research here and on line for ideas. Good luck on your journey.

Originally Posted by skipnord

Absolutely, you can forge O1. I rough forge, then pre-heat treat grind. Then anneal, normalize, and heat treat. It is a lot easier with a forge, which can be built for not a lot of money - research here and on line for ideas. Good luck on your journey.

That's great. Next step is to build my little gas forge. I'm not sure about an anvil though... will have to look around.

The removal method involves so much grinding that it feels wasteful and goes through a lot of shop supplies. I cut my 2" bar length-wise with the drill press (at least 3-4 bits), and the angle grinder with cut-off wheel (much smaller now), with some help from the hacksaw etc (hacksaw got dull... man this stuff is hard). Due to kids etc I only get about 2 hours/week to devote to this, so it's slow as heck. Do toddlers ever sleep? Pics to follow.

I watched Howard Clark, an excellent swordsmith, forge several knives on a piece of 6x6 steel bar, about 3 feet long, set on end. For knives and razors, you don't necessarily need a full anvil.

Couple thoughts, I noticed you kept saying your material was very hard... it shouldn't be. O1 is a pretty easily worked steel, when soft. I think you may have work hardened it, or it didnt come fully anneal/normalized, o1 will do that, while grinding, seems you got it pretty hot. A good drill bit will go through o1 like butter, so I think you should try softening it a bit and anneal. Which leads me to my next suggestion, if your looking for cost effective you could easily HT blades the size of razors in a 1 brick forge. And that is cheap and a lot easier than using a BBQ IMO.

Also if your not going to send your blades out to be HTed I would suggest using 1084, common carbon steels like 1095 and o1 aren't as "forgiving" when it comes to HT temperatures. So it's best to be able to control them within 25ish degrees, which is impossible in a very simple gas setup.

I left out a lot of small details and such, so if you have any questions feel free.

Hmmm. Thanks for that. I think I should have said tough rather than hard, but I may try annealing a piece to see what happens. I thought O1 was about the easiest to HT but I fear my grinding is the weakest link so far (haven't got to the point where HT is my weak link).

. More to come later.

I suppose our scales may be both relative, ie: I come from a knife-makers background. So when I think of tough steel I think on the ends of S30V and D2, CPMs and whatnot. But on the other hand 01 should still be easily drilled and hack sawed...

And as far as HT goes it is a pretty easy steel when considering stainless' as well, but not nearly as easy as 1084. And grinding is one of those things where even if you have a the best machine it won't make up for practice time at the wheel. But no practice and a belt grinder that's not really made to do the job (72x2 IMO is best as I'm sure most would agree with me) makes it even more difficult.

And all these things are part of the fun!

If you are going through drill bits then you may need to slow your RPM's down on your drill. When drilling tool steel, I'd suggest under 1200 RPM's for a 1/8 inch hole. For a bigger hole, slow it down. When in doubt, go slower. Doesn't hurt to throw some oil on that drill bit to cool and lubricate.

I cut metal every day. Drill sharpening and speeds are second nature to me.

A drill press is a good investment. It's extremely hard to get a good straight hole with a hand drill.

That's an excellent point, I guess for me like you said its second nature as well, I totally forgot about all that. I use cutting oil every time I drill any metal. Good drill bits aren't cheap.