So here's the chef's knife that I did the file work on. 1/8 O1. I don't know how you 'mirror polish' guys do it, my hats of to you! I finished this to 1200G (MX Micro-Mesh brand belts -600-800-1200) all on the 2x72, and that was enough! I wrapped this sucker up good doing the handle, and after, and it still got scratched up gently handling it! So if anything this project has me thinking that a mirror finish is something I will do rarely, if ever going forward. My micro-fibre cloth scratched it! What tricks do you guys use? Anyway, here it is: https://www.flickr.com/photos/155109468@N08/35247625803/in/dateposted-public/ Thanks for looking, Griff.
I try to avoid mirror finishes on blades. If it gets too shiny I'll sandblast it. On my bolster fronts what I do is wet sand up to about 600 grit, then to the buffing wheel with black compound. That reveals any missed scratches. Re-sand 400 then 600 and back to the wheel again. They become mirror like after usually after the second buffing. Handles and bolsters are ok, but IMHO buffing a blade on a wheel is asking for trouble. Dan
Nice try Connor, but you have to get up late at night, fall off the back of a turnip truck, during a solar eclipse to fool me lol
Avoiding it all together seems like a plan Dan, I feel like jumping in a time machine to go back and kick myself square in the happy sack for even thinking about doing it lol!
very nice griff! love the burl handle. when i do my mirror polish i start at 600 and work up to 2000 grit.Theres still a few things i want to try such as only pulling the sand paper in one direction only and eliminate some marks.my final step is on the buffer with green compound.
So this was one of those projects where I guess I kinda knew it was going to fail, but did it anyway. The knife was nice and all, but man, O1 does not like to come in contact with any moisture what so ever! And I know, I know, carbon tool steel...so of course it rusted almost immediately. So I've had my newbie moment of, 'holy crap,' where you do something like this and then you go, "Well that's what the experienced guys were talking about, son of a b****!" I am going to make another in AEB-L or even New Jersey Steel Baron's own Nitro-V...which I can have shipped to a friend in the states. I'm very interested in this Nitro-V stuff, described thusly by said supplier; 'Optimised AEB-L by enriching the formula using Nitrogen and Vanadium to create a new ferroalloy that provides exceptional edge performance, high hardness and extreme corrosion resistance especially in marine and wet environments.' This description is what I want from all my knives, be they kitchen knives or hunting or tactical in design, plus everything in between! I know there's plus and negatives to all, but the description is what I mean.
I use AEB-L a lot and find it's a great cutlery steel that takes a lot of abuse and still strops to a razor edge quite easily. The best part is that it's quite inexpensive compared to other steel. If you want to do stainless, it's time to get the heat treatment oven going. Dan
Yes I guess so, $1500 (or more) heat-treat oven and steel-foil to wrap it in, that costs more than the steel inside it! I didn't read if Nitro-V needs to be plate quenched, since it's similar to AEB-L do you do that Dan?
As far as I know, all air quenchable steel is okay with air, plate quench or oil quench. Anything faster than air cooling should get you under the nose and unlike something like 1095 where the right oil can make the difference alloy steel is very forgiving. A lot of guys simply pull and hang the pouch, blow some compressed air on it for a minute and it's done. I have done both plate and oil with AEB-L, but prefer oil now that I have a stop-off paint. I can't say with scientific accuracy, but from file checking the hardened steel I think that oil appears to result in a slightly higher "as quenched" hardness. BTW, Canadian Knifemaker Supply is stocking Nitro V now. It's about 50% more than AEB-L. I will get some and try it out. They will also heat treat for you which may be of value. $1500 is a LOT of heat treating and postage. Dan
I had some nitro v come in to do a test run. I did two chef and 3 other ones with it. It's at Rob's now getting heat treated should be back soon. For grinding it ground harder than Aeb-l but for handsand it went good . One thing I found it gets hot faster when grinding and it's harder on belts. Maybe that's just me .One thing I did like it didn't warp like Abe-l when grinding it. Very clean steel when you get it no need to surface grind it with is a good thing. Time will till how it will hold up. Rob will have 3/32 in on the next order witch will be even better I find 1/8 to thick .
