Gerhard Gerber

I think the title says it all, anybody know or heard of production knives going through the test?

Well, first manufacturer that came to mind was ESEE with their "legendary heat treat", next would be TOPS and some KABARs To be clear, thinking of their 1095 offerings......but that said I would love to see other manufacturers and steels take on this test. I have a reason for this line of thought, I'm still learning and I recently gained some new insights following some youtube videos and a related answer here The idea that I could do better than production (some) super steels using the simpler steel types available to me is very appealing. I have a TOPS and KABAR (Becker) but they were very expensive and hopefully I can sell them some day...........and there's and ocean between us.

With all my day job goings on it seems I will need to move soon, either to a farm with no electricity or a small mining town where my accommodation will limit me to taking.....maybe......a grinder and the HT kiln. I'm getting steady orders, but the local economy is in the toilette so there's not much disposable income flying around, knife making is not contributing enough, or fast enough. I'm sitting with about 10 knives that are not selling. Had a thought over the weekend, I'm very tempted to start making anything out of the ordinary that tickles my fancy, requirement being that it's not practical at all..... Maybe that pulls in the nuts with too much money, and I get to enjoy myself......

Gas forge and anvil to the farm, grinder and kiln to the mine...... Either way......won't be easy to finish anything. Figured if I end up on the farm I'll take along the bucket of bearing races I have and just forge blades so I can work on them when I have leave.

I recently bought 3 grits of Pferd files as my dedicated draw-filing files. Looks like on big blades I will always need to revert to files to get things fixed up and even, only problem is I suspect teeth break off on the edges and one pass can put in some pretty deep gouges

I made my Dad a (very good) knife early on, he was talking about "ordering" another so I gave him a voucher for his 73rd.... Forged from the remaining rear half of a Nicholson halfround...the design is not mine, and not my style. Going by reactions my Dad has good taste All that's missing are the glory shots withe the sheath my Dad is busy with. Result of the front half with the raw material......raw material close-up ....first forging....and the design

I utterly love this knife!!!!! Blade is beautiful, I have a burning need but not yet the skill to make something in that line. See the the whole was stunning, I was immediately reminded of one of my favourite movies, Kill Bill

I think my Dad's leather work might be higher level than my knife-making.... "We did leather work in school........." and a few zillion Youtube videos and he was on his way. Been a great help to me.

Clean & simple & beautiful!

Liking it already......

If it makes you feel any better, 3 years and 40+ knives in and this is where I mess up more often than not.... Early days I mostly did high saber grinds and then put a convex zero-edge on using my baby belt grinder....which was all I had. Spent 2+ hours recently and got nowhere trying to put an edge on 14C28N blades using a Lansky coarse diamond stone, resorted to the belt grinder and got a good result on the blade I started with the Lansky and recurved the other one to s#1t

Said it before and I'll say it again, looking at the WIP and the rough assembled knife compared to the finished product there seems to be some magic happening inbetween.

My Dad (72) is busy building a monster sheath for the knife I made him, fire steel loop, little pouch on the front and everything..... So yesterday he's busy working on the sheath, checking the fit of the knife.......and he drops it.... I don't have to fix the tip, it pegged into his calf....blood pooled in his Croc, blood everywhere, two stitches and a Tetanus shot. It was this knife: https://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php?/topic/38188-dads-design/

The doc said he could stop eating red meat, but knowing what we're like all the gains would be erased by one overindulgence She recommended he donates blood

He's fine, thanks......will show off his sheath once done. He was also diagnosed with Hemachromatosis........too much iron in the blood, so I see some teasing coming!

Possible, Mike did most of it in his coal forge, we squared the last bit using my gas forge. it's about 0.5", and in the case of the oil and water it was in for a while....long enough for sure. The kiln is brand new, used by many in this part of the world, and going on other results no reason to doubt it. Klin to oil is 2 seconds at the most. My Google-Fu was not strong enough to find out what steel is used by Land Rover, there's a heap of info out there about the colour codes of the springs, but nothing about the steel used. I believe he wanted to make chisels for somebody that turns bowls on a lathe. I don't agree with the method of the steel. but not my circus. We used 830C as is suitable for 5160. I did not think of trying to snap it, it was a long day of forging, many beers were consumed, and by the time we got around to HT the sun was down and the beer finished Tested with a file, I got the impression it hardened, but not much. Considering the last quench was in water makes me suspect the steel is unsuitable.

I missed this post but I saw the knife on Facebook this morning.......simply stunning Wes!

All I can say is thank you again bladesmithsforum.com Not sure who gave the advice, but white-out as solder block and a brass chisel for cleaning up just saved me hours.

A friend wanted to make tools from Land Rover coil spring, he straightened it, we squared it up, folded it double and did the heat treat in my kiln using the parameters for 5160, quenched in oil and it did not harden Repeated and quenched in water, still no joy. At least.......not as hard as I would expect it to be......

Amen brother, my 3rd retrenchment/redundancy in a row, currently on a half-day/half-pay contract until October and no prospects.

I sharpened, or at least attempted to sharpen the two 14C28N steak knives Friday afternoon using my Lansky......the steel won, I resorted to the belt grinder and of course recurved the one blade slightly..... Saturday was spent on the couch, partially due to a stomach bug that seemingly doesn't want to let go...... Also in a bit of a funk because my knives are not selling. Fortunately the feedback is positive, but the shop where they are on display is mostly frequented by locals, and the economy in general is in the toilette.......no disposable income for handmade knives.... Ran straight into the fact that larger blades are just exponentially more work and my pricing is wrong....and 11 pins are too many most likely .........and I have to find work because a half-day contract and making knives in the afternoons seemingly won't cut it....

@Mike Krall thank you very much for the advice and additional information, much appreciated!

You absolutely cannot go by this, but FWIW O1 tool steel has a distinctive spark that to my eye is more orange than most and instead of sparks bursts has a kick at the end of the sparks.....if that makes ANY sense.

My grinders are kit builds, the platten that came with the first one was setup to be mounted on the other side of the tool arm (different grinder I suspect), it worked perfectly but was obviously the wrong way around. Fixing that entailed moving the platten and wheel to the other side of the backing plate. While assembling I put the wheels down on a flat surface and adjusted the platten so everything was nice & flush I'm getting the impression the platten needs to stand bit proud of the wheels to prevent them from contacting the work piece? How much is safe/recommended? Secondly, I need to build a much bigger platten. I was hoping to back it with glass. Recently got schooled by somebody making a living from glass and found out the armoured glass I planned on using would be impossible..... Questions..... Would normal glass work and is this feasible at all? If not, does the platten need to be hardened or would mild steel work? Any further recommendations welcome and appreciated. Cheers Gerhard