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The steel grains themselves can re-formed in the heat treating operation. The "grain direction" being discussed here is the distribution of alloying elements, those alloying elements with larger atoms are more or less bound into place between the steel grains wherever they end up in the rolled...

At that temp and those times with no foil, the decarb could be quite thick. Maybe it's just me but vanadium bearing steels seems to decarb fast, if given the opportunity. You lose hardness pretty quickly once you bust 1000F. with the temper, according to Crucible's specs, and a lot of folks...

Don't feel bad about the 4 handles, the dagger I'm working on now is on it's 4th too. The 3rd one turned out perfect, but shrank onto the tang and split while I had it set aside:2: The good part is that you get lots of practice making handles at the rate of 4 per knife...you already know the...

Very nice, the carving adds a lot of period flavor. Boxwood is not the easiest stuff to find these days, is it the European variety? The sheath is very appealing too, period sheath work is a subject of interest for me at the moment.

I would personally go thinner for a skinning knife, or most anything with a blade under 5" or 6", but with a wide blade and a high grind you can get good edge geometry from 1/4" stock, it just takes a lot more grinding...on the other hand, you might hang onto that 1/4" 1084, if Aldo dosen't get...

Kevin, I have a question touching on alloy banding and CPM steels-from what I understand they should be mutually exclusive. But I have seen a pattern similar to alloy banding appear in more than one bar of CPM 154. Any thoughts?

This is great stuff, Kevin. For my part, I would love to see more of your material posted here.

Welcome! We certainly are not the best at everything but baseball and Cheez Whiz make up for a lot of shortcomings...

There goes the neighborhood! Best of luck with your move and getting settled.

Nice work! I have a fondness for period pieces and daggers in particular, and this one has a lot going for it.

Welcome Jim!

The only way I have ever saved a hole once a tap is broken off inside it is to heat the tap with a torch to soften it, and punch it out backwards with a pin punch while its nice and hot. This does damage the threads in the hole but usually leaves enough to re-tap them, if it isn't a critical...

There are anomalies like this showing up in cpm steels lately. I feel your frustration, and would suggest that you contact Carpenter and let them know about it. As makers we can't afford to lose time, money and customers over this kind of issue, especially when we are paying premium prices for...

Thanks again, guys! The balance point is right at the plunge, at the end of the short ricasso. The grip is partly hollowed in the interior to keep it from feeling like a boat anchor, the overall weight is 14.4 oz.

Thanks for the comments, sending it off to it's new owner today.

This dagger is based on an original 16th century design that is associated with the Landsknecht mercenaries and resembles the katzbalger type short swords that they favored. Originals of this type are rare and appear to have been in fashion for a short period ending around 1525. The original...

Manganese phosphate is one of the chemicals that is used to create a "parkerized" finish. It works on carbon steel but not on stainless. If you haven't done it before you might do some research on the process, I tried it once myself but ended up getting a gunsmith to parkerize my blades for me...

I think I paid 58$ for my stamp from Evers, about 20 years ago. 5 letters, 1/16" high. Mine hasn't seen the use that Ed's has, I bet, but it has stood the test of time.

The lines seem to be pretty well blurred in some of the replies here, but for what it's worth, what I said can be applied to hidden tangs or through tangs, the point of contention in the "superiority" debate seems to focus on the shoulder area which is similar on both types.

Personally I think the debate seperates along modern vs traditional ways of thinking. Neophytes gravitate towards the superiority of the full tang based on the assumption that the blade/tang are of a homogenous heat treat and the tang is subject to brittle failure in the same mode as the blade...