Noah Tasker Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 So I forged a skinning knife out of the tooth of an old Harrow and after HT it has a crack. I used differential HT so only the cutting edge is cracked. How big of a deal is this? Does it make the knife worthless? Need an expert opinion. The ability to make good decisions is the result of eperience, which comes from making bad decisions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Keyes Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 It depends. Where is the crack? If it's near the tip, could you grind it out? What is the intended use of the piece? If it's just gong to be a bench knife, no big deal. If you are going to show it off, do you really want this to be the piece that people see? Are you happy with the result? What would it take for you to make another, without the crack? Harrow teeth are often 1095(ish), if you tried a water quench, that is probably why it cracked. Big grinding/filing marks can also cause cracks to propagate. T'wer it mine, I'd trash it and start over. You gotta have standards (I keep reminding myself of this, every day in the shop). Geoff "The worst day smithing is better than the best day working for someone else." I said that. If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. - - -G. K. Chesterton So, just for the record: the fact that it does work still should not be taken as definitive proof that you are not crazy. Grant Sarver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarrett Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Agreed. I use these instances to test my HT and tempering, practice soft back draw, etc. Get something useful out of it. CUSTOM KNIVES BY JL RHODES JLRKNIVES ------------------------------------------------------------------------- God bless you. I thank God every day for the freedom to spend time with those I love, and time to pursue this craft. "Adversity is a test for strong men." "What one man can do, so can another." "NO excuses, just do better next time." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Scott Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 I definitely agree with the first two posts. Just to give my thoughts, I think I would probably finish the knife completely and use it to practice some sort of new technique that I haven't wanted to try on a knife that's coming along very well (due to the risk of ruining it or something). Then, once I finished it, I would probably do a destruction test and compare it to a similar blade with no crack, just to get an idea of how much a crack effects the strength of the blade. Basically, when I have a problem, I try to experiment on it as much as possible before declaring it done or something. Just my two cents. Good luck! -Dan Corvus Forge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Tasker Posted October 5, 2010 Author Share Posted October 5, 2010 (edited) Thanks for the advice guys. I was going to post a picture but my internet is acting up. I think I'm just going to use the knife until it breaks and then trash it. I have alot more of these teath so the next one is going to be oil quenched. Thanks again, I'll post a picture as soon as I can. Edited October 5, 2010 by Noah Tasker The ability to make good decisions is the result of eperience, which comes from making bad decisions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Tasker Posted October 6, 2010 Author Share Posted October 6, 2010 Here are the pictures. You can't see the crack, but it is slightly closer to the plunge. The ability to make good decisions is the result of eperience, which comes from making bad decisions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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