Jon Cook

Good to see you back, and being able to make what makes you happy. Wonderful piece.

Not big in the Ender series, but that is clean work. Are the copper pins on the butt cap locators?

If a tree falls in the forest. . . New town, new house, new social obligations, but I'm still pushing forward time permitting. This one's been in the works way too long. It was supposed to be a warmup project between my kith entry (hopefully next year), and the Ent Slayer (still in the works, still daunting). I got a differential temper line I was not expecting. Luckily, the last minute addition of a sharpening notch kept it away from the edge. Very cool. Might try it on purpose soon. Got the handle 90% shaped, and the blade up to 220. I'm hoping to get the blade to 600 and glue up done after labor day. Specs: steel is bedframe again (I swear I have pedigreed steel, y'all, just haven't made much progress on those yet), handle is black ash with g10 liners and brass pins. Edge is just under 3", about 7" tip to tail. If I got it right, she should be able to skin a pile of boxes, and maybe a squirrel or two without trouble.

Circumstances being what they are, I've been spending a lot more free time working with wood instead of metal. The Mrs. needed seats made for her class. I made some last month, and three came back for repairs today.This one got reengineered with a couple hacksaw blades as springs. Pic 2 is dresser pieces I'm repurposing into a sandpaper organizer because I finally have dedicated shop space, and it looks like bitter divorce proceedings in there with all the random stuff strewn about.

It'd be great for general smithing practice. Hammer control, file work, chasing, inlays. If you're going to flatten it, cut your chunk, get it red hot, and dunk it in water. Go in horizontal so you don't risk spraying yourself with hot water. It's dead soft that way. Then you can slit and flatten it with a lot less effort.

That's a big part of why I bought it. Then I started reading what I could find on heat treat, and that didn't sound right.

So the soak is assuming you anneal it per the data sheet. Good to know. I'm aiming to take advantage of the extra toughness and get a little more edge retention at the higher hardness.

Yes to stock removal. Looks like most of it comes hot rolled at about 40-45, and I've read it likes to work harden. So, I think the plan is to normalize, then cut my shape. Normalize again if it work hardens. Slow ramp up to critical, hold it as long as I can without going over temp (based on decalescense/color), and quench in warm canola. This is probably going to leave more decarb to deal with after tempering as I can just manage a slight reducing atmosphere at full blast. Decarb loss shouldn't be anywhere near 80crv2, though. Edit: getting the nickel into solution seems to be the issue with the soak.

Mods: it looks like I should have put this in metallurgy and other enigmas. Can we move it? My apologies.

That's pretty much what I'm seeing. Short of sending it out, or convincing the makerspace to let me repurpose their pottery kiln, I can't pull off a soak that long right now. I saw a thread suggesting normalizing O1 starting a good bit above critical can minimize the soak time. Would something like that work, or should I sit on it until I can build a proper kiln?

Last week, I found myself stuck at work into the wee hours, and some unexpected cash to burn. So, I decided to buy a chunk of .09" 15n20. I had it in my head that since it's usually paired with 1080 for patterning, I was basically getting a shinier 1080. In the sweltering light of day, research seemed like a good idea. But, outside of @Aiden CC's stockman project, and a handful of others, I haven't found much on heat treating this steel by itself. What I have found suggests optimal is closer to O1. Can anyone confirm the need for a long soak at critical, or can I get good results with a simpler treatment? I'm planning on making some small, stock removal EDCs, aiming at 60-62 RC if that makes a difference.

One of the exhibitors this year at my local knife show has compiled a historical book on Bowie's. If I can remember or find his name, I'll let you know. @Gary Mulkey seems to be the resident expert on the form around these parts. I'm not sure who to point you towards as a seaxpert.

Gonna have to disagree a bit, @Mike Ward If you're eating raw grain, sure, some kind of bacteria could be a problem. If you can't make the enzymes that break down gluten or lactose, by all means stay away from grains and milk. Otherwise, we're kind of good at taking advantage of anything with calories and storing the extra for lean times. life expectancy and birth rates went up, and infant mortality went down with the advent of agriculture. So, I'm gonna say it was a good thing. If what you're doing is working for you, great. But for general advice, limit sugar and overall calories (alcohol is a very dense source). @Zeb Camper I'm a little lighter at 210, and my heart does the same thing. It's on my list of things to check on, especially given a family history of heart issues. Here's hoping it's a minor issue.

I too, am curious. I've seen sumac here, but never anything big enough to be useful.

My wife has a cricut (vinyl stencil cutter) that we used to make the stencil for this mark. Etched it with an automotive trickle charger, salt water, and q-tips. If you try this way, swap swabs often to avoid blotchiness.