Not having a linisher or a bench sander, all the sanding was done by hand which took along time. I had to use a 4" grinder to make the edge which was quite difficult as the angle kept changing. I finished it with a file though which made it look reasonable. I had a few problems with hardening the blade. The first time I tried quenching it, it didnt come out hard enough. So I requenched a few times but still soft. Not knowing what was wrong I turned to Mick for advice.
Well he named a few things that could be the problem so I made sure I did everything he said. The problem wast he quenching medium. Turns out the file steel is W2, so a brine quench was needed. I made a 8% salt brine in a 15 litre bucket and tried that. It worked but warped my blade. I didnt think it would as the steel is 5mm thick, but I guess it shows we are always learning. So using a hebel offcut from my forge, I started straighting out the blade by heating it up until it was soft and hitting it with the back of an axe. I eventually got it straight and all was good, until I cleaned it up. The hebel being porus left all these indents in my blade. Again, didnt think of that
I was going to have it polished like a mirror, but my plans were altered. I temepered it in the oven at 200 degrees for an hour. Doesnt look to bad, makes it look kind of old and used. Its a 6" blade and a 4.5" handle.
It is a basic knife with a not so good bevel. Next knife I will try to have two bevels or a flat grind if I manage it with the grinder.
The handle I think is made from red ironbark, its what we use for firewood. Sure was a pain to sand it flat by hand, and its definetly not near perfect. Its sharp but not shaving sharp which I dont mind as long as it holds its edge.
Its been an interesting series of "ohh darn how do I recover from this misshap" :lol
