B. Norris Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 The point of normalizing is to refine the grain size of the steel. A finer grain will be tougher than a large grain at the same hardness. Heating to the same temperature for every normalizing cycle will not do so. You need to get it quite hot the first time, not quite to welding, around 1600 degrees F or so. Next cycle 1550. third cycle around 1500. Doing this by eye, without temperature controls, takes a bit of practice. Working without temperature controls, you may want to do multiple quench cycles as well, just to make sure. There are quite a few bladesmiths in Wisconsin. I strongly urge you to make contact with one or more of them and get them to help with the knife for your friend. You are more than welcome to come over and I will give you a hand just, I live quite a ways away! ~Bruce~ “All work is empty save when there is love, for work is love made visible.” Kahlil Gibran "It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them." - Alfred Adler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riley weiss Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 thanks for the info guys. i will try the your guys normalizing ways from now on. i really appreciate all the help i really do! so the new blade is started! and i ran out of gas.... this project is kicking my ass... haha i will get some pics of forging up tm and of the old blade that broke. thank you all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawn patterson Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Im not reading every comment on every page but, theres a reason most of our military blades are made of 1095. It gets hard and sharpens pretty reasonably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Yates Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Im not reading every comment on every page but, theres a reason most of our military blades are made of 1095. It gets hard and sharpens pretty reasonably. Not Most Military Blades are 1095 Sorry . Robert D. Yates , 13 & On Forge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Spurgeon Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Im not reading every comment on every page but, theres a reason most of our military blades are made of 1095. It gets hard and sharpens pretty reasonably. Yeah... you may want to double check your source. I see a lot of steels listed for military knives from 420HC, S30V, 7Cr17MoV and yes good ole 5160. Some Military knives may indeed be made from 1095, but I have yet to see one. James Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear. Except a creature be part coward it is not a compliment to say it is brave. ~Mark Twain SageBrush BladeWorks (New website is in limbo...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEzell Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 Im not reading every comment on every page but, theres a reason most of our military blades are made of 1095. It gets hard and sharpens pretty reasonably. This was true at one time, but maybe not anymore. The standard USMC knife was 1095, though I think they came out with a stainless version... George Ezell, bladesmith" How much useful knowledge is lost by the scattered forms in which it is ushered to the world! How many solitary students spend half their lives in making discoveries which had been perfected a century before their time, for want of a condensed exhibition of what is known."Buffonview some of my work RelicForge on facebook Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Longmire Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 The ones made by Ontario Knife are 1095, including the machete. I find them a bit chippy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riley weiss Posted August 3, 2013 Author Share Posted August 3, 2013 here some more pics ill get more up tm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Spurgeon Posted August 4, 2013 Share Posted August 4, 2013 That is looking pretty nice! Hope this one lives to see some real use! One suggestion, for your hammer! Crown it, in other words round off all the sharp corners. I am sure there is a post on properly crowning a hammer, or you can at least look at pics of other smith's hammers to get the idea. Sharp corners on a forging hammer's face can cause nasty fracture lines in the steel if you strike off square. Or any angle, square included, if you use the cross peen on the hammer in your pic above. Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear. Except a creature be part coward it is not a compliment to say it is brave. ~Mark Twain SageBrush BladeWorks (New website is in limbo...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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