Making a Knife, pt 2

Pros make a knife pretty quick...
I'm not a pro.
I'm slow.

Top will become a finished knife, bottom is the template that I will use for future knives.

Initialled...

...and numbered

Stainless foil is used to protect the blades during heat treating. This foil is .002" thick, and it will cut the hell out of you. Wear gloves.

When I first read up on heat treating, I found that a lot of folks will put a small piece of paper inside the foil with the blade to consume the oxygen that remains inside. This has worked for me in the past when making plane irons, so I will continue to do it. I will say, however, that there are a lot of folks that don't believe in doing it this way.

Each blade is now wrapped. All the seams are folded over twice and pinched as tight as possible.

Loaded into the kiln. The little holder is an accessory from Even-Heat, the kiln manufacturer. I am starting off with the blades in a cold kiln. The ramp up will function as the preheat.

Getting hot in there.

At the soak temperature. We'll sit here for about 7 minutes.

Soak complete.

Out of the kiln, and sitting on an aluminum block. The block acts as a heat sink for the quench. The steel is A2, therefore it is air hardening.

The foil bags will oxidize and turn dark brown. There is enough heat in those two blades to make the block warm to the touch.

 OK. So, once the blades have cooled to room temperature, they will be tempered at 300 degrees. As of writing this, they are sitting in the oven, quietly doing their thing. We'll pick up there next time.