i have not made my first knife yet... waiting for material I do have a plasma cutter in my shop Do any knife makers rough out blades with a plasma Instead of grinding with a cut off wheel? Just wondering Daniel P
I've seen people using the plasma cutter to cut blanks from giant saw blades, leaf springs and such. I use a bench mounted Porta-Band. It's a game changer compared to the old hacksaw method I used on my first few knives.
If it's air hardening steel then yes expect the heat from the plasma cutter to harden the steel around the cuts. I noticed this when welding some AEB-L. If it's carbon steel like leaf springs and old saw blades then the cooling rate should be way slower than that required for hardening. Ultimately you are going to harden it again, so not a big deal using the plasma to get a blank cut out.
Would be really handy to have one of those, I find manually cutting the blank out to be the most disagreeable part of the whole process.
I agree. Though investing in the portable bandsaw has really made a huge difference for me. It somehow still manages to come out a bit different than draw though : )
Daniel. Don't plasma your Nitro-V. It is air hardening steel and will be become very hard around the cuts.
I have a portable bandsaw and learned the hard way not to try to cut stainless when I tried with some CPM154, it destroyed the saw blade.
NO bandsaw and no plasma - how does one cut stainless. Not being snide - never have dealt with stainless before.
My first SS knives I cut the rough shapes with a hacksaw. I used an 18 tpi bi-metal blade. I good vise also helps a lot. Annealed stainless isn't much different to work with than other steels, except a little tougher as it has chromium and vanadium in it.
I use 12 by 24 sheets of AEBL which are a bit of a pain in my bandsaw so I initially used my plasma. As I grind bevels post heat treat I never found the hardened edge to be an issue. Filing would be an issue. That being said I have gone back to the bandsaw just because the plasma makes such a mess and I can get the blades closer together with the bandsaw.
