Starting a new knife

Here's a folding hunting knife
I made for m journeyman Jon's retirement. The blade is 1/4" thick at the back and 4" long. The name bar on the handle is 24 karat gold. I invented a filing pattern across the back which I was able to nearly invisibly incorporate the name "Jon" into. You have to look close to see it. The blade is Jon's favorite steel,1095,except this steel was from a batch of NOS Brown and Sharpe 1095v tool steel made back in the 1950's,which I prize highly. That was about the peak of American manufacturing of high quality. The ground finish on the bars of steel was many times smoother than the grins you see today on ground tool steel. Just a little polishing and you would have a mirror. Why don't they do that today?

Oh,I ran across this picture of a Bowie knife I freehand ground from D2 steel. The blade is highly polished,and you can see an endless number of interlocked pyramids in it. The blade is 6" long.It has an ivory grained micarta handle stacked with impregnated paper which gives the grain. The pins and the hilt are silver. The picture does not show the mirror polish on the blade. I guess they took it so as to not have reflections glinting into the picture. Sometimes the pros would spray on a "magic" non reflecting coat on shiny objects,and it would just wipe off with no harm later.

Also,an amputation knife I made the blade for for the Apothecary's Shop in Williamsburg,where I was Toolmaker. I didn't know if I could pull off this tricky grind,being so curved. But I did,in spite of the face of the 2" wide grinding belt being FLAT(I wanted it to be a bit CONVEX to fit inside the curve!) All went well,and my nerves held out! Don't know if I could do it today! But it wasn't all that many years ago. Jon made the ebony handle and the silver bolster. The handle is NOT on upside down!! The blade is 3/16" thick across the back,and is ground about as thin as a straight razor. I sharpened it reasonably sharp,but NOT razor sharp,where it would have been too easy for the Apothecaries to severely cut themselves due to the hook shape of the blade. They demonstrate it using egg plants or other suitably shaped vegetables.

They used mirror polished knives to amputate limbs. If the highly polished blade was SOON wiped off,the blood would not have time to stain and etch the blade. Hemoglobin,full of iron,wants to get into the steel blade. Some non stainless hunting knives were and are still made highly polished in Germany today for the same reason.

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George I've seen some of your pictures before and I am always amazed at the work you do. I tried a file on the steel and I can cut it but its harder then annealed o-1. The file will only scratch the surface unless I really push on it. The o-1 is much easier to cut with the file. I think the steel is hardened but not as hard as i would like the finished blade to be. At this pont I'm going to just finish the blades pivot, shape and the majority of its grinding. I'll test hardening with some extra material. Then harden it and finish grind it.
 
I have used hand tools for many years as well as machinery. I was the Master Musical Instrument Maker and in public,working with only 18th. C. tools for 16 years. For what it's worth,I always found the antique plane irons (which were water hardening steel,of course),which I could barely cut with a new,fine toothed file,held the edge the longest when planing wood. This would make those irons at about 54 RC at the hardest. Good 1095 spring steel,which I made saws from,is 52 RC. I would wear out a 3 cornered file sharpening one of my saws. But,those saws were highly prized by the craftsmen I made them for as toolmaker(1986-2009). They held an edge longer than any antique Disston or other saw would. These old saws were definitely softer than the 1095 spring steel I used. Probably made of something like 1075 or 1080. Easier to file by far.

Steels can be too hard to hold the best edge,and I think a lot of makers make their knives too hard. But,the microscopic cutting edge breaks off of steel that is too hard,making the edge seem dull. So,why don't you make a simple blade about 54 RC and try it out for a while?

A batch of 18th. C. reproduction saws ready for craftsmen to pick up. I am on the left,and my journeyman Jon is on the right.(The museum used the old terms apprentice,journeyman and master). Jon was a master in his own right,but was not the supervisor of the shop.

We did not make pictures of the crosscut and rip saws,but one is seen on the 16' bench. The rest are all back saws.

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