DonL
Well-Known Member
I had the opportunity this weekend to test out a little 2 3/4" knife I made out of Admirals 1075/1080. The knife is 1/8 thick.
I used it to skin, quarter and debone a buck I shot. The buck field dressed around 130lbs, a good one for around here. I had to sharpen the little knife twice (once before I started and once when I was a little past half way done) to get everything done, which included cutting through knee and tail joints and the ball joints of the hips. I normally use a larger 3 1/2" to 4" knife for this job, but wanted to see how long my little knife would hold an edge.
I've never used any other small knife to do this, so I have nothing to compare it to. And later that night, the way my hand and wrist ached I won't be doing it with a little knife any time soon again!
I felt like the knife should have stayed sharper for longer because I have done that job with a larger production knife and it was still sharp when I got done. Just wondering about your thoughts on this. Not sure if I'll keep using the 1075/1080 as I have quite a bit of 0-1 laying around that I'll be using on my next knives. But I like the price of the 1075/1080 and it seems easy enough to work with.
FYI: My heat treat was to bring the blade up to non magnetic in my paint can forge and then let it soak for a minute more. Then a quench in ATF. I tempered it 3 times at 400 for an hour and letting it cool to room temp between cycles.
I used it to skin, quarter and debone a buck I shot. The buck field dressed around 130lbs, a good one for around here. I had to sharpen the little knife twice (once before I started and once when I was a little past half way done) to get everything done, which included cutting through knee and tail joints and the ball joints of the hips. I normally use a larger 3 1/2" to 4" knife for this job, but wanted to see how long my little knife would hold an edge.
I've never used any other small knife to do this, so I have nothing to compare it to. And later that night, the way my hand and wrist ached I won't be doing it with a little knife any time soon again!
I felt like the knife should have stayed sharper for longer because I have done that job with a larger production knife and it was still sharp when I got done. Just wondering about your thoughts on this. Not sure if I'll keep using the 1075/1080 as I have quite a bit of 0-1 laying around that I'll be using on my next knives. But I like the price of the 1075/1080 and it seems easy enough to work with.
FYI: My heat treat was to bring the blade up to non magnetic in my paint can forge and then let it soak for a minute more. Then a quench in ATF. I tempered it 3 times at 400 for an hour and letting it cool to room temp between cycles.
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