On 09/06/13 18:55, RogerN wrote:
"Ignoramus20041" wrote in message
...

On 2013-06-09, RogerN wrote:
I thought knife making would be an interesting metalworking topic. I
mean
we got tools, quality metalworking, steels, heat treating, forging, and
on
and on.

So if I get my shop building and have more convenient access to my
equipment, I'd like to make some quality knives. For one, I want a blade
of
D2 because I hear it's almost stainless but holds an edge real well.
It is not almost stainless, it rusts.
That's why I said almost, if it didn't rust it wouldn't be almost.

http://www.midwayusa.com/technicalNo...rial_chart.htm
D2 This air hardened tool steel is sometimes called a "semi-stainless"
steel, because it contains 12% chromium. It offers decent corrosion
resistance with exceptional edge retention. It is harder to sharpen than
most, but can be finished to a high-polish shine.

http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/...lade_steel.php
D2
This material is a very high carbon steel (1.5%) that has superb edge
holding ability and unmatched wear resistance, but lacks toughness. It is
not as corrosion resistant as 440C or ATS-34, and is not considered a
stainless steel because it only has 12% chrome. Stainless blades have 13% or
more.

One thing I noticed about knife making is that you can get a lot of money
tied up in equipment, and I always like the idea of getting more
equipment
but not spending lots of dollars. I thought I could make a knife makers
grinder by using tubing in the Reese hitch size ranges, maybe using
polyurethane wheels ground true for contact wheels.
I do not believe that there is any money to be made by knife making.
I agree, I just want to make them for myself or maybe gifts, not for making
money.

The heat treating furnaces are quite high too. Maybe get some kiln
firebrick and heat elements, fabricate a frame to hold the bricks, and
use
an industrial ramping temperature controller with a solid sate relay for
temperature control. Then I can set it to soak, ramp to temperature,
hold,
then switch to tempering temperature. Also it seems one of the
controllers
would be great at annealing, heat, soak, let it cool at specified rate at
the critical temperatures.

Anyone here do any knife making?
I do not and do not plan to. Seems like everyone wants to be making
knives.

But the equipment, you can get on the cheap.

i
I don't guess you have any small, shippable, heat treating kilns/furnaces?

RogerN


Maybe have a look in your area for 2nd hand ceramic kilns as they make a
good heat treatment furnace in my experience. I have a small Gallenkamp
heat treatment furnace which is used for small stuff and enamelling but
doesn't currently have a PID controller. My main kiln is an 18" top
loader that I use for normalising etc and I have a PID controller for
that and it works well. The elements are a bit tired so it'll only just
get to 1200C on a good day, not the 1300C it would originally do, but
that is normally only needed for firing refractory castable items to
working temps not heat treatment so it's fine.