Elmax Build n Test n Show Thread

BossDog

KnifeDogs.com & USAknifemaker.com Owner
Staff member
I heat treated and plate quench my first blade of Elmax

I used this:
in the cold oven,
fast ramp up to 1560F, hold 20 minutes
fast ramp up to 1980F, hold 30 minutes
plate quench
RC tests were: 63.5, 64.5, 63.5
Cyro 8 hours, RC tests were: 64.5, 63.5, 64.5
temper 2 hours each at 390F, RC tests were: 61.5, 62.5, 61.5

I didn't get any pics of the grind or heat treat. (I did shoot video of it though. Later for that however.)

I was going to draw it back to 59/60 but I think I'll give this a go. I hope to get to finishing it up this weekend and then I'll post a few pictures.
 
Here is my test knife made with one of the sample Elmax steel bars.
I used most of the length so it is just a shade under 10".
The handles are Mcamg10 I just got in a week ago.
I took this one to Norax 65x finish which is about 300 grit I suppose with this stuff.
I have it hardened to 61.5RC.

There is a compound grind in this blade. The over all grind is convex with a fairly thick edge. The tip has an Americanized Tanto with a thick flat grind. The cutting hollow is a chisel grind with only one side hollow ground and the back side is convex.


elmax-with-mcamg10-handle.jpg


I found profiling, grinding and drilling to be no different than a typical CPM steel. Soft enough and easy to grind. Heat treating was text book straight forward. I got a 63.5 to 64RC from a plate quench. An 8 hour cryo added a 1/2 to 1 point RC over three measurements.
I tempered it back to 61.5RC with 2 tempers of 390F for 2 hours each.

Sharpening was interesting. I normally start with a 120 and get the convex edge shape I am looking for with a burr on both sides. Then I step through 100x, 65x, 45x (or 30x), 16x and finish with a 5x Norax. I sharpened edge up and about half way through my belts I couldn't get a burr to come up. I switched to edge down and got a stout burr all the way through 5x. By stout, I mean a gnarly, burly burr all the way to the end. I ran the edge under my buffer with green chrome for a few passes and this dude is stupidly sharp. I am really surprised how sharp the thick edge is (convex belly of the blade). It shaved paper nearly as good as the hollow cutting edge. I'm impressed.
 
I had my own little rope cutting contest. I hung this manilla rope and cut it several times. Or at least I tried to. The edge was fine. My technique was bad. I've never done a hanging rope cutting before but now I'm going to have to start. I did manage one clean cut and a several partial cuts. I then chopped the rope several times like whack-a-mole. There is cut rope all over the place in the garage. About now my wife came out and wondered what I was doing. After pretending to listen for a minute she went and played with the dog. It's probably better that way.
rope-chopped.jpg

Now I need to chop a board I think..
I didn't have any 2x4's around so I grabbed this 1"x6" from a steel packing crate. This was hard pine as compared to the typical soft pine 2x4. It took awhile but I chopped through it. It was so wide I had to chop through both sides to meet in the middle. This knife is bit thin and short to be a chopper. I intentionally chopped in the thin hollow area and pried side ways to see if I could get it to chip. It didn't.
The bottom board that looks all chewed up is where I rammed the tip into it and twisted it sideways to try and break off the tip. It didn't. I'm sure if I'd have hammered it in half way and then twisted I could have managed to break it but that wouldn't have proved a thing. I have this at 61.5RC so I really expected it to fail at the twisting and chopping.
board-chopped.jpg


After all that, my arm is tired and it hurts. I grabbed some yellow notebook paper to see how bad the edge was. It cut the paper just like before. Razor sharp and no snags or dull spots along the entire edge.
paper-cut.jpg

I'm impressed.
 
Really interesting Boss, can't wait to see what the other guys come up with. Sounds like some great steel.
 
Good looking knife. That steel sounds terrific for a real user with the high hardness and no chipping. The edge retention seems great.
 
Looks like a good way to test the steel and from the sounds of it this is a steel to consider.
 
It's taken me half an hour to type this...
my fingers keep slipping in the drool:biggrin:
Wild knife brother,
and man-oh-man have those results got me hot for this steel...
any plans on a flex-test?
 
Boss that is a great run down, cool convex edge and I like the handle material, definately be ordering some of that soon.
Eric
 
I hadn't thought of even doing a flex test. I guess that makes me a stainless guy. A pounder would have don that right off.
I'll do that with the next test blade.
 
Thanks for the run down Boss. Guess I will be getting some Elmax now too hehe. I really like the grind you did too. Very interesting knife. And I love the handle. Guess I will have to get some Mcamg10 now too. ::sigh:: going to be flat broke soon lol!

-Eric
 
one-inch-wide-wheel.jpg

I had not done a "hollow grind in a grind" before. I thought I could just plunge my 2" wheel into the blade and it would work. Wrong. The 2" wheel just made a droopy, uneven grind line. I set up one of the 1" wide wheels and used that. It worked fairly well. This blade isn't that thick at .148" but the 1" wide wheel did give it a fairly decent inner grind. I wasn't terribly concerned with spending a lot of time on this. I figured I'd be breaking this knife anyway. I'm going to have to do a few more of these. I like the thin cutting edge on the otherwise stout blade edge.

Here is the 8"x1" contact wheel
Here is the 10"x1" contact wheel
2" to 1" belt splitter
 
Boss, I am going to start drawing mine this week when I am out on the road, Hopefully cut out and grind when the weekend comes and I am home.

Are you willing to do a heat treat for me or should I send it to Peters?
 
Send it to Peter's Ernie. I have a full dance card now through Xmas with my day job.
 
Great knife and the steel sounds excellent.

What is the surface on elmax bars, is it a ground, blasted or rolled finish?


Jakob
 
I'm waiting to get my piece of Emax. I've alreadt started a founder I will donate to the Dogs for an auction for our fund. This weon't be as test knife for hard use or EDC. Whoever ends up with it will do as they like. I will record my use of the Emax and try a simple cutting test I used on hunters after it is finished.
 
I received my Emax bar today !!! On Monday I will get my blade into the mail and on it's way for heat treating. I do my bevel grinding after heat treat. Frank
 
Great knife and the steel sounds excellent.

What is the surface on elmax bars, is it a ground, blasted or rolled finish?


Jakob
The piece I got has a rolled finish.

So far I have cut, drilled and profiled it.
Drilled a little tougher than CPM154, but just.
 
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