Free Kitchen Knife Give Away →

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RspVPuHK8n0

Win this razor sharp hand crafted kitchen knife for yourself!! Blade is made from 1075 high carbon steel, and hardened to 65 Rockwell, tempered back to 60 Rockwell for ease of sharpening by a beginner knife enthusiast. Handle is reclaimed redgum with black and red G10 accents.

I have just got the new workshop up and running after nearly 12 months! To celebrate I made a quick little kitchen utility knife which will be given away on 12 Feb 2021. Hopefully I am at 2,000 subscribers by that point ;)

The Official give away rules:

To enter you must

1.) Be subscribed to my channel so you don't miss next months give away

2.) Leave a comment on this video to let me know a tool I should add to my collection. Only tools that do not appear in this video will be counted in the draw, so watch carefully!

3.) Enter as many times as you like.

*Draw is open to anyone over 18 *I will pay shipping via Australia Post to wherever in the world it happens to be won. *Winner will be notified on this channel and via direct message *Winner will be selected at random via Excel function and then I will check if their comment is valid / and they are subscribed. *

Winner will be drawn at 6P.M. 12th Feb 2021 Australia Eastern Time. Find Youtube community guidelines here: https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubewor...​ ***Important*** YouTube is not a sponsor of this contest and by participating viewers consent to release YouTube from any liability related to this contest.

Danu duit agús slan!

Heat Treating 1075 High Carbon Steel:

The heat treating of the blade is as follows for anyone wanting to heat treat 1075 high carbon steel themselves.

After forging normalisation is required. This helps re-homoginise the grain size to give best results during hardening. Normalisation is a simple process that is probably overlooked by a lot of people. All you have to do is heat the steel to a particular heat then let it cool in air being careful not to place it flat on any heat sinks like your anvil or the floor. Anything that draws the heat out of your blade on one side more than the other will cause a difference in grain size. Blade should be below 200 °C before returning to the forge for subsequent refinement cycles. The repeated heats at lower temperatures refines the grain size as a final preparation for hardening. I only normalise the 1075 that I have forged.

Normalise: Hold blade at temperature for 5 minutes and remove from forge.

870 °C

815 °C

760 °C

Hardening: Hold blade at temperature of 815°C for 5 minutes and quench immediately into medium speed oil.

Temper 1075 immediately in a large oven. Using the small toaster ovens is dangerous as they are prone to wide over shoots of the set temperature. I prefer the kitchen oven these days as it heats up more slowly and does not have the temperature variance problems of a small oven only heating a small area up.

If you achieve full hardness in 1075 steel the blade hardness should be 65 HRC. Tempering at 204°C in the oven should draw this to 60 HRC allowing for stress relief and good sharpen-ability in the hands of a beginner. Tempering at higher temperatures will reduce the hardness further and give a tougher blade but will reduce the edge retention i.e. sharpening will be required more often. Temper twice at whatever the desired temperature is. Allow the blade to cool to room temperature between cycles.

For 1075 the temperatures I use are the same recommended by Master Smith Kevin Cashen for 1084. More heat treating information can be found on his website for a range of steels commonly available through Artisan Supplies

https://www.artisansupplies.com.au/

http://www.cashenblades.com/steel/1084.html

How to ( how I) forge a kitchen knife by hand, Forging W2 kitchen knife

A complete video capture of forging a kitchen utility knife from W2 steel. This was 6mm stock which I normally forge under the power hammer but there are plenty of people who don't have those. So I did it the long way... I think one of the most important things I have come to learn is that to keep the proportions of the blade where you want them the whole blade has to arrive at the point of completion at the same time. What does that mean? I don't forge the blade too close to its final size without also doing some work on the tang. When the blade is half way finished so too should be the tang. I think this principal would apply to almost any blade. If you complete the tang first then try the blade you get problems with the transition on the spine from tang to blade. There are a few simple things you can do that can make forging a kitchen knife a little easier. Notice how I cut my beginning stock at an angle, this way I don't have to forge the stock back into itself (which would make it thicker) and then fight to correct the fish mouth or birds beak problem. I also hot cut a little notch in to the tang end which creates a step that you can seat the stock against when breaking down the tang. To be honest I should have hot cut the stock off the bar with its angles from the get go for a better demonstration. If you don't have a hot cut tool you could use the angle grinder to cut yourself a step easy enough. Theres 100 ways to forge a blade this is one.

W2 from Artisan Supplies: https://www.artisansupplies.com.au/product-category/knife-making-supplies/knife-and-blade-steels/tool-steels/w1w2/?c=22783a5940ef

The dog head hammer you may or may not be able to see me using was made by the illustrious Bruce Beamish. Bruce is a seller of power hammers here in Australia and I gotta say makes a damn fine hammer himself. https://anyangaustralia.com.au/

If you would like to learn how to forge a knife let me know, I teach classes.

Sharpening knives by hand made simple

Sharpening knives can be very easy when you have a method to follow

0.) soak stone until it stops bubbling, or for at least 5 minutes

1.) develop bur on 1000 grit stone

2.) remove bur on 1000 grit stone

3.) develop bur on 6000 grit stone

4.) remove bur on 6000 grit stone

Forged Deba knife

In this video you can see the many things I put under my Anyang power hammer to compensate for not having cutlers dies fitted :) I make a second two layer deba using 80CrV2 and mild steel, this time I started out with 12mm mild steel and 6mm carbon steel to try and prevent warping by having a thicker body of non distorting steel...

Forging a Japanese Deba knife

Part 2 of my Japanese deba knife build, made with mild steel and 80CrV2 High carbon steel forge welded together. I am quite fascinated with the 2 layer forge weld method at the moment as it presents some unique challenges.

Forging Ni Mai Deba & heat treating 80CrV2 →

I decided to set myself a challenge and have a go at forging a blade I had not yet attempted the two layer deba knife. Half mild steel the other half in 80CrV2 sometimes known as 1080+ or 5160 on steroids. This is the construction of many single beveled knifes that you see when traditional Japanese bladesmiths forge tools. Importantly this construction only works for asymmetrical grinding because the hardenable steel should be on one side only. The major challenge this poses for the bladesmith is that when the steel hardens the martensite expands a little. So the high carbon portion of the blade warps with nothing to expand on the other half and push back against it. To guard against how dramatic the curve is proper normalization after forging should be adhered to. Another thing I believe the Japanese blade smiths might do is quench the blade on a bias… I noticed in some videos that instead of quenching vertically (i.e. blade edge directly down spine towards roof) they slide the steel into the quench soft cladding side down. I didn’t try this myself but if I have another go today I might. At any rate these measures will only minimise the warping at best. I waited until after hardening to grind the blade.

Heat treatment for 80CrV2 that I followed.

  1. Forge to shape

  2. Normalise at descending temperatures allowing to room temp in between 900, 850, 700. I soak at these temps for about 5 minutes when the steel is equalised. In the video you see my middle normalisation cycle.

  3. Austenitise (harden) I chose to harden it from the lower end of the advised hardening range for 80CrV2, 840-880 degrees. I used a digital thermocouple reader for this as the lighting conditions vary in my shop. Colour is not a great gauge for temperature. I quenched into Houghtons G quench a medium speed steel. The added chromium and vanadium aid deep hardening in this steel so I feel no need to go for a fast quench and risk blowing the weld just yet.

  4. I tempered this following the grinding at 190 degrees twice for 2 hours each allowing it to cool to room temperature between cycles. I will use hardness test files for a quick check of hardness. If I achieved maximum hardness in the quench the blade edge should be just above 60 HRC.

    After grinding and etching I found that there was a small bit of delam near the heel of the blade which I will take out now the bade is tempered. In the next video I will show the final grinding etc. I want to hollow grind the back and see if by removing an amount of the 80CrV2 from the body the warp relieves a little before I go hitting the blade about too much.

Newcastle Knife making Classes added to the scheduled

Very excited to now be offering a limited number of places for weekend knife making classes in the Newcastle area. Class has been designed for beginners to come in and learn the bladesmithing craft incorporating traditional blacksmith skills and modern tools. Knives will be crafted from a quality high carbon steel that can be sourced easily if bladesmithing is something you think you would like to continue. I aim to provide a class that allows students to go home with the right knowledge and skills to enjoy making their own cutlery at a home workshop. However anyone with a sense of adventure and desire to learn will find this a very enjoyable weekend.

Do you want to experience the satisfaction of forging a kitchen knife? Head to the Learning page and check out the dates available.

Basic heat treating of 5160 / SUP9 steel

For my next installment in the beginners series I decided to do the fast and loose approach to heat treating 5160 & SUP9 (which are the same thing). 
This method will be suitable for people who ALREADY have an Oxy/LP Oxy/Acetylene rig. This will work for smaller knives with the Bunnings brand Bernzomatic torches.  It is far cheaper to buy the parts for a gas forge that will do a much better job of your heat treating than it ywould be to go out and buy a $400 cutting torch set and rent an Oxygen bottle.  This is by no means a definitive guide to the heat treating of spring steel for knives... just a place to start.  

Heat past non magnetic (Ideally 830 Celcius) and hold for 2-5minutes

Quench blade first into oil (conola, vegetable but not motor oil) 

When cooled to room temperature grind surface back to expose bright steel

Test bright steel at edge, if hardened correctly it should be "glassy" a regular file should have a hard time marking it

Put in kitchen oven on 205 Degrees Celcius for 2 hours, then let cool outside of the oven to room temperature. Then repeat. Steel must be tempered twice.

This should result in a blade that has a degree of toughness and hardness suitable for use as a knife.   

 

Steel = SUP9 x 6mm x 70mm x 1200mm
https://www.artisansupplies.com.au/product/sup9-high-chromium-spring-steel-6-x-70-x-1200-mm/ 

Tongs: Wayne Saunders Knife makers tongs
https://www.artisansupplies.com.au/product/21247/ 

Thermocouple reader : (ignore the photo it is different) 
https://www.artisansupplies.com.au/product/digital-thermometers/  

Thermocouple:
https://www.artisansupplies.com.au/product/high-temperature-stainless-steel-braided-thermocouple/

Irn Bru Beef

I decided as the first meal to commit to this blog it should be something that ties together iron working and food. Irn Bru rose to fame in Scotland and abroad from its roots in Falkirk as the preferred soft drink of steel workers there (as legend has it?). Now it outsells Coke and Pepsi in Scotland, and as I moved North on my travels I noticed less soft drink options and more Irn Bru. I'm Okay with that. So here's what I made last night, slow cooked Irn Bru beef.    

What you need:

  • Sharp Knife ;)
  • 1.2 kg chuck steak
  • 3 carrots
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 onion
  • 2 tbs red wine vinegar
  • 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
  • Some paprika
  • pepper
  • 1/4 lemon
  • Parsley to serve
  • mash potatoes (Surely this needs no expansion) 
  • 1L Irn Bru ( I get mine from Coles its with the international food, annoyingly I could only get it as 330ml cans) 
  • 1/3 cup of sugar
IMG_4850.JPG

 

Method:

I literally threw most of this into the slow cooker. Simple huh? Cut the carrots into large chunks and dice the onion, add the beef on top of them, crush the garlic and throw it in. add the vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, a pinch of paprika, pepper. Lastly add the Irn Bru over the top.  

You should have something like this now. Notice the extra can of Irn Bru, drink that sucker. 

You should have something like this now. Notice the extra can of Irn Bru, drink that sucker. 

I set the Slow cooker to high for 8 hours and went of to do blacksmith stuff. That might not effect the outcome of the dish but you might like to consider it. 

When the beef was tender I removed 3 cups or so of the broth, added it to a saucepan squeezed in the lemon and added the sugar. I heated it on the stove until the sauce had reduced stirring frequently. 

Lastly I scooped up the beef and placed it in the oven at around 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes. It should slightly caramelise  on the outside but be careful not to let it dry out. 

Serve over mash potatoes with the carrots and sauce then dig in. 

It does not look like much but it satisfied this blacksmith and a mechatronic engineer. You know, the really discerning foodie types. 

It does not look like much but it satisfied this blacksmith and a mechatronic engineer. You know, the really discerning foodie types.