Blade kick stand

Gliden07

Gliden07

Well-Known Member
Recently been reading a lot about tempering. Read that you shouldn't lay the blades flat on rack for tempering. As well as I plan my builds I always forget to remedy standing the blades when tempering. I came up with a quick solution today (I think), I crumpled up some Aluminum foil on the handle end of the knife and flattened the bottom of it. Seems to work GREAT! My question is would this be detrimental to the blade. I wouldn't think it would but wanted to ask. And if it's not then its a cheap quick solution to a problem.20201021_101442.jpg
 
Gliden07 said:
Recently been reading a lot about tempering. Read that you shouldn't lay the blades flat on rack for tempering. As well as I plan my builds I always forget to remedy standing the blades when tempering. I came up with a quick solution today (I think), I crumpled up some Aluminum foil on the handle end of the knife and flattened the bottom of it. Seems to work GREAT! My question is would this be detrimental to the blade. I wouldn't think it would but wanted to ask. And if it's not then its a cheap quick solution to a problem.View attachment 75426
Click to expand...

That will work fine. No issues.

I like these metal clamps:

 
Learned something new today. I’ve always laid them flat on a baking sheet in the oven but I haven’t noticed any problems. I temper two hours on one side and then turn them over for the second two hours. I have some clamps that I can start using so I’ll give it a try.
 
There is some concern about warp since the blade is lying with one side on a support while other side is in open air. I've not had a problem, but with thin AEB-L blades I tend to clamp between 1/4" aluminum bar to prevent warp while tempering.
 
I'm not sure if it would cause issues in tempering....but I'm not sure it wouldn't either.

We always try for even heating/cooling in our methods. We know we shouldn't lay a blade on its side during austenitizing, or cooling during thermal cycles. So why vary the process during tempering?

For me, it comes down to building and enforcing good habits.
 
I've been thinking about how I temper and what I could do to keep the blades vertical and not lying flat in the oven. Thanks for the great ideas!
 
Another thought. Would this also apply to your blades during HT after you quench? Like if you're doing a batch of 4-6 one at a time, and after quenching one you lay it down to grab the next one to put in the forge?
 
After reading an article I believe by Kevin Cashin (dont quote me?) they said you shouldn't lay them on their side to prevent it for any knife! Other makers have told me about how Warp prone AEB-L is figured this would maybe help? Again these 2 blades are tests for some future sales so I'm making a lot of this up as I go! Asking question and over thinking everything! LOL!! Just figured it was a nice hack using stuff I had in the house!
 
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