![]() ![]() Now strop the knife with leather to get it even sharper. To make sure you are getting the whole bevel sharp you can use a marker and put ink along the bevel, let it dry and sharpen it again this time checking to see if all the ink is gone (this means you have sharpened the whole surface if all the ink is gone).įor a whetstone just soak it in water until it can not absorb any more water then do the same as above. Hold the knife at about 20 degrees to the stone and slide it back and forth. ![]() Get an oil stone or whetstone (mine is 300grit on one side and 500grit on the other side)įor an oil stone just pour a little bit of light oil on the wet stone and rest the bevel of your knife on it. This gives a great edge to the knife and it is not that hard to resharpen the blade later. I use an oil stone when sharpening my knives. When the blade is bright orange quench it in oil Leave it in the fire and wait until the blade is bright orange and is non magnetic (take out briefly and test with a magnet)ĥ. Hold your knife with a wrench and place it in the fire.Ĥ. Once you have tested if the metal is able to be heat treated then get your blade and heat treat it.ģ. But if it does not snap and just bends then try heat treating at different temperatures till you get it to snap. If it snaps while you are bending it then you good to go. Once the piece has cooled down put it in a vice then get a plumber's wrench and bend the piece of metal to a 45 degree angle. Take the metal straight from the fire and quench it in the oil as not to let it cool down too much. Once it is bright and non magnetic quench the piece of metal in some vegetable oil (old vege oil is fine to use) You can also use water but it is more likely to snap the blade. ![]() You can test sample pieces of the same piece of metal you used for the knife and heat it up in your fire until it gets bright orange and non magnetic. If you have never done this before I highly recommend following this instructable first. The kind of metal you have used will decide how you should heat treat it. This works as well but to get it hot enough you will need to use something like a hairdryer, with a tube attached to the end (so you don't melt your hairdryer!), to give the fire oxygen, so it gets hotter. If you don't have a forge or wood burner you could just make an open fire in a pit outside. I use a small wood burner, which does a great job for heat treating the knives I make. Now for the more complicated part, heat treating the blade.įor heat treating you will need some kind of fire or forge. If you want it to have a bit more strength to the blade do a 30 degree angle or if you want it to be razor sharp do a 15 degree angle. Hold the knife at about 20 degrees while sanding to get a slight bevel so it can get razor sharp. When creating the bevel on a belt sander or bench grinder remember to keep dipping it in water to keep it cool. To do thicker pieces of steel you need a strap belt sander which has a vertical belt instead of a horizontal belt and the sanding belt is only about 4-8cm wide. With the belt sander I have I can't create a bevel on a thick piece of steel as the sanding board underneath the sanding belt gets in the way. Creating a bevel with a file is also possible, it will take a bit longer but is a lot more precise. A belt sander does a great job and leaves a relatively smooth finish, whereas a bench grinder on the other hand leaves quite a rough finish. Use either a bench grinder, file or belt sander to create the bevel. When creating a bevel it is important to get it in the middle of the blade otherwise you will not get a sharp edge and it will not cut straight.
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