JimC

Oh, it's ruined all right. In four pieces. I followed a little of everyone's advice, and learned something about blades that develop sori...That I really ought to have remembered from reading "The Craft of the Japanese Sword". Every time I did a full anneal, harden, temper cycle, the sori increased. Then on the last harden, I heard that horrible "click" noise. I think, and am happy to be corrected, that the contraction of the spine was too great for the structure of the edge, and I got a lovely set of stress cracks. So, at the cost of disappointment, I'm learning a lot. -J

Yep. Error. The blade is straighter, but the edge is soft. Got it too hot. Must consider where to go from here. -J

Ok. Not having a pencil point on my torch, would reverse clay coating do the trick? Coat the edge to keep the heat off, or would that interfere with the adjustment? I get the distinct feeling that I'm in for trial and error. -Jim

Good morning, Here's my fun one from yesterday. I did a baby chisel ground tanto, neck knife size, yesterday. 1095, that Devil. I clayed the edge, heated it in my 2-brick propane forge, gave it a quench, and it proceeded to surprise the hell out of me. It developed actual sori! I couldn't believe my luck, until I turned it and saw that the blade had warped. I tempered it three times, and attemped to relieve the lateral curve (which appears to mimic the degree of sori) by clamping it in a vice. No luck. Does anyone have any great ideas, or am I stuck with an adorable little blad

This is the kiridashi that came from all my lack of success at the forge the other weekend. Originally, it was going to be my personal knife, and look nothing like this. However, I got a stress crack in the blade that went from the edge to half way to the spine. The kiridashi was made from the surviving tang. 1095, acid etch, seems to have tempered into the middle 50's RC. -Jim

I didn't normalize. I think you might have hit the rivet on the head with that advice. As for the hand, letting it heal is a wonderful idea. I need to learn to hammer with my right hand, if only to keep from becoming Popeye on one side. Thanks for the help! -J I just bought the "$50 Knife Shop" and that has been quite an eye-opener about techniques I wasn't aware of. So much so, that I've got firebrick on the way, and plan on practicing tempering in my back yard. Thanks for the help! -J

Good morning, After watching my first two blades explode into stress fractures yesterday, I get the feeling that there's really something that I'm missing here. Do any of you have any suggestions for good books on knifemaking? And while you're at it, do any of you have remedies for "swollen hammer hand"? Ow -Jim Fairfax, VA