Do Over

[wmhammond]

Guys, I forgot to drill the holes for my bolsters (drilled the ones for the handle) before I heat treated the knife. The steel is 01. Can I anneal it again, drill the holes and then re-heat treat it and get the same results? thanks,

Wallace

 

[KCorn]

Shouldn't be a problem to anneal it and then heat treat it again after drilling the holes. You could also probably use a carbide drill bit to drill the holes into to hardened tang if you go slow and use some good cutting oil. Just my $.02!

 

[Todd Robbins]

I've had good success softening the tang on simpler steels, like 1084, 1095, and 15N20. I expect it could be done on O-1 as well, but would probably take longer. If you wanted to go that route, you could clamp the blade in a container of water with water just above your plunge lines and heat the tang with a torch and hold it at dull grey for a few minutes.

 

[Bush Monkey]

Bosch Blue Granite drills will bore holes in hardened O1 relatively easy.

 

[millejn3]

I would just make a bolster free knife.. I prefer bolstered knives myself but have made some really nice non bolstered knives as well as see awesome looking non bolstered knives all the time.