Recent content by MTBob

I use vertical metal bandsaw using Lenox variable pitch 14-18 TPI, bimetal blade Chomps right through G10, scales / liners, no problem.

Huh, ... and I thought phone books were used by knife makers as a convenient source of paper for testing edge sharpness. The last pay phone I saw in Montana was in Cooke City and it had instructions on how to insert coins and push the buttons! Thanks for the tip - I'll begin storing my...

Nick: Perhaps my problem is not using the neutralizer solution that came with the power supply. I've been using Windex instead. Interestingly, the guy from TUS said that shouldn't make any difference, and that my issue was simply bending the stencil too much.

Thanks Ed, great comments. As you suggested, I have been "degassing" the stencil process by placing the etch pad 3-5 seconds on the stencil and then lifting. I have varied the number of pad applications from 10 to 30 during the etching process to see how much depth is achieved in the image...

After less than a dozen applications my stencils from TUS are developing hair line cracks aground the image. Those cracks show up on the steel as small spider web lines around the image. I'm using a Personalizer Plus typically set at 3.5-4 and do a 2 step cycle, first etching then marking. I...

Ah, indeed, I did ask a dumb question - I didn't realize that you're etching damascus. That makes sense.

Not that I know anything about etching stainless.... but, why 18%. Wouldn't 36% etch perhaps twice as fast? And... pardon me for the dumb question, why are you etching the stainless steel?

Duh! Why didn't I think of that? Great tip.

Thanks for all this information, it is very helpful. Bob

Help me understand this. I assume the upper piece is the 80CrV2. Are you saying that you were able to get better grain structure (smaller grain) in the 80CrV2 because you used an oven to HT that sample -- and that because the 1075 was HT'd in a forge it resulted in larger grain structure?

Kevin, thank you for such a thorough answer, very helpful. Could you elablorate on what to look for in a "proper" HT grain structure? I've heat treated some 1084 sample pieces and bent them until they broke. I saw the difference in the bending angle before the samples fractured. But, as I...

Thanks Ed, that is REALLY helpful!

I got a dumb follow-on question (one of many). I've now heat treated a bunch of 1084 and have made some tooling with O1. It all seems to harden adequately - but, how do I know that I've got the process optimized? For instance, I follow all the necessary steips for heat treating 1084 - I...