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Thought I'd post this question to see if any of you have experience with using conventional Growlers (large thermos bottle) to store liquid nitrogen for Cryo treatment. I'm doing a lot of stainless kitchen knives and have been using dry ice. Yesterday I discovered that the welding shop that...

I'm curious if anyone has worked with CarTech Micro-Melt CD#1 Alloy that's sold by Alpha Knife Supply? I just purchased a couple pieces of this steel along with an order of AEB-L. AKS does not show this steel in their inventory of carbon and stainless steels, but lists it in the section called...

As a knife maker with a beard, for the past 8 years I've used one of Jim Durxbury's Resp-o-Rators (https://duxterity.com/resp-o-rator/). I've modified the unit to accept 3M filters and replaced the plastic cross arm. This filter has served me well, filtering particulates much better than my 3m...

I'm heat treating a number of knives using AEB-L with Alpha Knife Supply's HT recommendations. I want to do them (4 or 5 large blades) as one batch in the oven. Do any of you have experience extending the duration of the last heating hold point of 1975F? AKS recommends holding this last...

Using inert gas (Argon mostly) is a common feature with many HT ovens. The benefit is a reduction or elimination of surface scaling. I opted to not add that feature when I got a Paragon oven because filling the entire chamber with gas is costly and, in my opinion, doesn't make sense for my low...

As requested, this posting describes the details of my initial posting outlining replacement of the flat drive belt on my lathe. I used this belt replacement method since I did not want to disassemble the lathe to install a complete loop belt. Here's source of supply information. The belting I...

I finally replaced a very very old worn out drive belt on my lathe. There are a bunch of YouTube videos that describe disassembly of the lathe headstock and drive pulley to install a new belt. Another approach to replacing a belt is the use of connecting staples to join the ends, or lacing the...

I saw this conditioning flap wheel on Pop's some time ago and got a couple, thinking their hype was over exaggerated. Well, after testing for a couple months, I'm becoming a believer. I've used these wheels on G10, Micarta, and natural wood to finish sanding after getting to about 120 with a...

The other day I was wanting to simply sand the face of a knife scale. It's a bit of a pain to do it by hand on the 2" belt. But, I remembered buying this little gizmo at the SLC Blade Show for something like $5-10. Works pretty slick. But, it also can round the ends & corners if not careful...

I'm in the process of making a set of steak knives with differing kinds of wood handles. I'm curious whether the use of CA glue on natural (unstabilized) porous wood, say Zebra or Walnut, will result in a better finish than just using a plain Tru Oil finish? Or can CA glue be used as a filler...

As a hobbyist knife maker, I mostly make knives for family and friends. Most are given away, with infrequent paid commissions. Knives are a wonderful gift for any kitchen or sportsman. However in recent years I've found the most rewarding gift of all is inviting people to come to my shop to...

After seeing a number of posts on KD and watching a couple of videos from Pop's, I finally made a knife straightening peening hammer. I tested it on a post heat treated 52100 think chopper that's in the larval stage. It had about 1/16" deflection starting just behind the ricasso. I had a...

In a recent posting the OP asked how to post pictures. In addition to the conventional way of adding photos by uploading an attachment, you can also embed a photo right into the text of a posting using a screen shot of the photo. This works on my Windows 10 desk top computer using an App...

As I dive deeper into the world of stainless knives with WA handles, I'd like to see if there any ideas about handle finishes. At this point I'm limiting the handle composition to natural, un-stabilized, wood with highlight stacks of contrasting woods and G-10. On oily woods like Bocota and...

One thing I dislike is hand sanding - on anything. So to preserve my aging hands I'm always looking for a way for a machine to do the work. I've begun making more kitchen knives and I've fiddled around with some grinder attachments that seem to offer a way to get a hand sanded look in rather...

I recently purchased a Paragon KM18t 3 element Pro. This furnace has a Bartlett Sentinel Controller that is very easy to use. It incorporates a WiFi connection that allows access to the stored heating cycle data. As an example, here's the data output from this morning's heat treatment of some...

7.5" Gyuto with Saya, AEB-L blade, Cocobolo oval handle with G-10 ferrule, Cherry Saya with walnut pin.

I'm just finishing a knife for a customer and found that using my Personalizer with SC-1 electrolyte on AEB-L that I didn't get a darkened mark after etching. The etching seemed to work pretty good, but it just wouldn't darken. Should I use a different electrolyte, or is there another work...

A guy sent me this photo of French knife grinders and I thought it might bring a smile. Next time I'm stiff from hunching over my grinder I'll be thinking of this position and pondering which is worse, vertical or horizontal! Claude Dozorme still makes knifes with a distinctive French design...

I thought I'd post a few pictures of a fixture I made to drill holes in Wa handles, for use in the dowel assembly method. This is about the third one I've made and each time I've had trouble holding the handle in place and getting a clean straight hole. This fixture seems to solve that...