Andrew Gillespie

Ok, you definately know much more than I do. A pity they have such strict rules about a chemical that isn't all that dangerous.

you could mix it with clay, that's how graphite pencils are made

packed it up, the owners of the property I rent are retiring and selling the place so I have to move

for edc I prefer stainless

I continued experiments with boric acid out of curiosity. I am now convinced that it cannot work for steel as it becomes too corrosive at the temperatures needed for steel. Rather leave it for the jewellers working with precious metals and lower temperatures.

Somebody did mention dust and the possibility of it burning. Yes, metal can burn. They are known as class D fires and are very difficult to extinguish. In the very unlikely event of you accidentally creating thermite there is no chance of extinguishing that fire, just get yourself to safety. Where I work we have aluminium dust and it has ignited and I dumped a CO2 extinguisher on it and it only burnt hotter. I knew putting water on it would cause an explosion, but the CO2 making it worse was a surprise. We now have a Class D extinguisher that works by surrounding the burning material with a sodium chloride shell. It does not stop the burning, it just stops the fire spreading. If the fire has already spread to an area larger that the extinguisher can handle then the fire cannot be extinguished.

I steam them and then grate cheese over them or make cheese sauce. Apparantly a small percentage of people have a gene the makes some chemical in sprouts and other veggies taste like bitter soap.

I managed to get hold of an anti-scale Consursal Z1100 which is a german product. Works well, but is very expensive.

I have found that brands of cobalt bits are not all equal. Alpen is the best I have used so far.

I am quarantined at home because I got that flu that's going around. I just did a heat treat of a 1075 blade and used an anti-decarb (Condursal Z1100) for the first time. I think it worked. But a file doesn't skate. I accidentally over heated the oil. Could that cause it to not harden properly?

Thanks, all. I will use 1075.

I can easily get 1075, 1085 and 1095, but I don't know enough to choose between them. Which one is best for a beginner doing only stock removal. I want to make simple fixed blade knives.

The quenching is temp 815°C for 1075, right?

If it were me curiousity would beat wanting to save it and I would cut through the oddity diagonally and then polish the edge as finely as possible to see how deep it goes.

Thanks all, I am starting to understand better. What was confusing me was the large grain size which was my mistake by letting it cool in the kiln.