Oh what a fascinating world that I stepped into when I took a stab at knife making. (cough) It has opened up new doors for me and I've made some great contacts. Yesterday, a millwright guy I met last year dropped by with a bunch of bearing sleeves for me. I put one on the belt grinder and got a shower of fine sparks. There is lots of carbon in these things. I am wondering what would be the best way to use them? I'm thinking of cutting them in half, heating them up, straightening them out and then cleaning them up to be used either individually or stacked. If anyone has a better way, please feel free to share. https://photos.app.goo.gl/XJYiGicNx4JGpsp5A
Tom those bearings sleeves are most likely 52100. So unless you have programmable oven you will never get them soft enough to cut with a band saw or drill with any drill bit except a carbide and even then they are tough to drill and plan on breaking lots of carbides. The San Mai I make is from 52100 roller bearings and it makes great blades but it is a tough steel to work with and I don't have a programmable oven to soften the steel, so drilling cutting and grinding are all tough jobs. Good luck !
Hello and thx for the post. You are 100% correct. I can shape this steel, grind this steel but I can't get a cobalt drill bit to to even scratch the surface of it! Not even a small one. I wanted to try that bolster technique on this knife but that's gonna be impossible if I can't drill it. I'm not giving up yet.
What you could do if drilling is not an option is to file a half circle on either side of the tang then transfer to the wood and drill wood normally. When you insert the pins will be in the half hole in the tang and the wood. completely new look and might be original idea
Hi guys, I have been pretty darn sick since last Sunday. Bedridden. I can drill this stuff now. A good carbide drill bit, at a very high speed will do it in the drill press. I have done some testing on this steel and plan to make a short vid so you can see what I'm doing.
