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Oh yes, this reminded of one other good point. With knives I never really had to learn this lesson, but swords taught me one important thing about straightening unhardened blades cold. Never forget the cause- unwanted strain energy. Anytime I move metal cold, I stress relieve before...

Just a note- I never use a hammer to straighten cold high carbon steel. There are radical differences between the modes of deformation under gradual loading of strain and sudden loading of strain. If it is cold- always bend it, if it is hot (red), then you can hit it too!

Simple carbon steels are much easier to guess at. I can start by laying down some general guidelines on hardening heats. I see no reason ever to exceed 1500°F when hardening a simple carbon steel, and I would even stay at 1475°F maximum if there is any hold time. Depending on the condition going...

If you would like. “Thermal cycling” is a term that was necessitated by the very large amount of confusion among knifemakers regarding true normalizing. For years knifemakers seemed to believe that the definition of normalizing was any heat treatment done pre-hardening that was not annealing...

That is an excellent example of how abrasion resistance is independent of hardness. If anybody doubts this- hand rub something the old CruForgeV at 60HRC next to 1084 at 60HRC, exact same hardness, but a very noticeable difference in abrasion resistance. Another classic example that I often...

The beauty of normalizing, for as powerful as it can be, is that it is such a simple operation. As mentioned in another thread, steels alloyed enough to require tight controls can be difficult to impossible to normalize in the traditional sense. For all the steels I work with, I still often...

Marc, that is very kind of you. You are most welcome. You put me in good company with Ed, I only wish I could have the energy to keep up with him in helping folks on this forum. I have been doing this long enough that I often run out of fresh things to talk about, so it is great questions from...

In the other threads in this series I have covered the different kinds of edges one can have on a knife, all with a valid claim to the title of “sharp” despite, their very different modes of cut. I would be remiss, here in the Heat Treating forum, not to cover one of the most profound effects...

The Damascus cutting effect. What I have already described also sheds some light on a phenomenon that has long purported in the custom knife arena. The claims that Damascus steel cuts differently, or longer, have been around as long as the material itself. It is all to easy to chalk this up to...

It is a good recommendation not to normalize an air hardening steel since, by definition, it is impossible. All attempts to "normalize", in any traditional sense, would actually be hardening, rather than normalizing. Sure, it could refine it, but that is due to multiple hardenings rather than...

just be aware that there are always tradeoffs. That same blade would have noticeably less impact toughness along the length due to that orientation. But does that really matter in a fine cutting little hunter?

I have added some more from another article, regarding tempering steel types for different edges here: https://knifedogs.com/threads/tempering-for-different-kinds-of-%E2%80%9Csharp-%E2%80%9D.51556/

You ever notice how each knife user has their own taste in sharpening stones? Not just types or brands, mind you, such as your uncle swears by natural Arkansas, but your Granddad wants a Norton, but how some prefer widely differing grits. Some folks insist in progressively finer stones, followed...

I Don't have as much of an excuse- it is not like I am out traveling the world these days. As I mentioned in the other thread, I have been working on articles, because publications, such as the ABS American Bladesmith Journal, don't have a lot of events or other activities to cover and I want...

Hello Ted, This is just part of a series of articles I have been working on for a few weeks now. With most events shut down, I have been working on providing more material for the ABS Journal to work with. I wanted to get some conversations going with my rough drafts to see how I can trim...

Yes, although I was asked to contribute to that article, I learned a lot about how others describe the process after reading it. I have often encountered things that seemed counter-intuitive when teaching joint Intro Classes with other smiths, until I realized we were describing the very same...

I have found that to very much be the case. That .015", makes the difference between a light camp knife and a skinner. When students have drawn the temp back a bit far, that .015" will easily take an edge that wrinkles on a 2X4 to one that won't. A grind down to .015" to .020" before a roll...

I am actually not as fond of the convex grind as I am of the flat grind. I have found the flat grind to be almost universally effective in all but the most specialized applications. The convex edge, in combination with the flat grind, seems to provide the most effective edge geometry I have...

Here is another one, that I thought was worth sharing. It is fun, because it is easy when you understand the process but may seem mysterious for many. One of the weekly phone calls, or e-mail, that I received this week had a good question. I will paraphrase it something like this- “Kevin, I...

Get your cup of coffee, this will take a bit. ;) I have been working on article and video ideas and wanted to see if this one could be of interest. When I began learning about the fascinating effects of heat treatments on the properties of steel, I fell into the mindset that the three most...