good news/bad news

[pmike5869]

Bought a couple of blades for my kitchen from Texas knife supply and started to make handles for them. Pin stock on hand was .151 dia and the holes in the tang were .139. The BAD NEWS: I ruined 5 drill bits (some of which were $8.79 ), and a new jewelers file, I gave up on drilling the holes out .013 to match my pin stock. Desert Iron wood looked so good I decided not to pin this handle and ruin the look of the grain. File work would be impossible. The GOOD NEWS: I believe this blade stock would probably be around Rockwell 62 C.

[Hukk]

Looks good. If you have a hole dia of .139, you might want to use .125 pins, a real pain unless you have carbide bits or reams to go to 5/32". But be gentle they are hard but fragile. Costly and easy to break but the only thing to use on hardened blade steel.

I have seen the kitchen knives, either 440C or AUS-8A with cryo for both and those will eat HSS (usually M2 with drill bits) or most other bits. I would guess your close with the RC, I think 59 or 60 but I sure would not want to do file work on that - some will. But I think a kitchen knife should be able to be cleaned well and fast, bacteria will hide in the file work I hear for kitchen knives.

[pmike5869]

I used to work in a military facility and had access to Rockwell testing equipment. That was 20 yrs ago. Now all I know is that a new jewelers file wouldn't touch the thing, smoothed out the file teeth like they weren't there. Haven't a clue how anyone could do file work when a file won't touch the stuff, maybe grind? Tickled with the blade hardness tho. Been using Henckels blades for the last 20 yrs, good knives but they dull pretty easily. "course they sharpen easily too. Thx for the reply, always glad to get your view.

[pmike5869]

By the way, I think you're right about the Rockwell 59/60. I made several blades out of D2 back when I had access to the Testers and had one heat treated to 62C. Tested right on the money but it was a lot thicker blade and wouldn't be something to give to the general public or they might chip it. Don't think the average user would like a kitchen blade that was that brittle. thx again

[Froggyedge]

Beautiful wood!
Be sure to keep it well out of reach of the dishwasher!

[orvet]

Nice lookin' knife pmike! I love the wood.

I usually don't do filework on fixed blades, except sometimes for thumb traction.
The problem with filework on a user is that food/animal blood/dirt/moisture/etc can get in there & get between the tang & handle and cause all sorts of problems, as Hukk alluded to.

I see guys do filework on fixed blades all the time, & I guess it is OK if it is a safe-queen or on display somewhere. But I would never do it on a user; unless the customer wanted it.........then I wouldn't guarantee the handle because of the likelihood of moisture causing the tang to rust (if carbon steel) or the handle to split or loosen. That is just my opinion.

Good lookin’ knife!
Dale

[pmike5869]

Totally agree with the comments re; the dishwasher and the filework on users. I personally know several people who have cut themselves badly by putting sharp knives in dishwater and fumbling around in there. Also the temperature shock of the water in the dishwasher is not good for the type of handle I have on this knife. I NEVER put my kitchen knives in dishwater or dishwashers. As to the filework, I have just recently done some filework on a fixed blade and it is ONLY for display. I would shudder if anyone ever used this one to dress a deer or cut the family roast. I use the filework to show off and that's it. I do think filework on the handle of a user could be possible if the filework were filled with the clear epoxy used to secure the handle. that way we could have the best of both worlds, artistic display without the disadvantage of bacteria or other contaminants being stored in the pockets. Thx for the comments. Funny thing about the Desert Ironwood, the stuff used here was only $5 on ebay while some "exibition grade" stuff which did not come out nearly so spectacular was $30, and $40.

[Hukk]

I have used knives with filework for dressing game while deer, elk, bear, or pig hunting, but not for birds. Doves, just a quick yank and they are breasted out, quail and pheasant I just wait til I get back. Don't hunt ducks or geese in California any more just because they are migratory and I don't know if they spent a winter or 2 at Kesterson (selenium toxicity ---superfund clean up site - not clean yet, mostly farm run-off that has brought out selenium that was already there).

As far as cleaning in the field, I just brought a tooth brush and mineral oil and cleaned once back at camp and that works well. As far as deer go, our "A" zone starts the second Saturday of August and runs 6 weeks. Hunting may be as hot as 114 degrees was my hottest. I used to bring Ice Chests and everything to butcher game and some city guys named my truck the "Meat Wagon". One weekend we shot 2 bucks in 114 degree weather I broke both down into primal cuts and iced them down. The hip joint is the last point to cool when it is that hot - break them down or lose them. These city guys got a pig and a deer and the butcher told them to take them to the dump that same weekend. Them to PAID $1500 a year to belong to a club - now they have "Meat Wagons". There is a reason why I do what I do.

I don't mind filework on a hunter and have done it and used it. File work on a kitchen knife is not something I would ever do. I also have never done filework on hardened steel, just annealed, then heat treat.