Knife Help

[Bevan R.]

I made a few knives for the last KITH deal. It was fun. Trying again and I am having a real issue getting holes drilled for handle pins.
I am using the edger blade - removal method. This time I used a torch and heated the handle areas for the pins nice and red. I kept the blade in icewater to not lose the tempering. I then let the blank cool on my bench. It seems harder than before. I have gone through 2 carbide dremmel blades and still have not made a single hole.
Could really use some help.

[El Destructo]

Heat the Handle up till it turns red....stick it in a can of sand or something that will not let it cool quickly...this will soften the Metal enough to drill easy....

[crooketarrow]

   I aneal my steel before I start forming my knife this includes drilling the holes if need. Ofcorse you have to harden and put the temper back in after you've fitted everything.

  To aneal just heat your steel up to cherry red and let it air dry all there is to it. Mosy types of steel you can temper by just useing a house oven. Or by color if your useing a forge.

   You can buy clay to cover your blade then heat only the handle to cherry red  to aneal (solfen) just the handle but get as less heat on the blade as possable or you'll take out the temper. If your makeing the whole knife is better just to learn to harden and  temper your own steel. It's really no big deal. ALL THE INFO YOU NEEDS ON HERE. And this way you know your getting the best out of your steel. Instead of relieing on some on else.

   Just stating out use 1095 steel it's a good knife steel and you can temper in the kicten oven. It's old saw mill blades there easy to come by cheap. I cut them into knife blakes all the time. I'm far from being a blade smith but I know the basic's PM me if you need some more help.

[degoins]

You can also try carbide tip concrete bits using whole milk as the coolant/lubricant instead of oil. I had to resort to this method not long ago on an old Old Hickory butcher knife that I cut down and re-handled. I went through several bits before someone on another site told me about the concrete bits and milk.

[crooketarrow]

  DEGOIN I've never heard of this I'll store in in the back of what brain I have.

[DEllis]

Sounds like it air hardened. Some alloy steels will harden with only air cooling. You need to heat the tang with a torch until it turns blue. If you let it get to the critical phase, which occurs at a moderately bright red heat, then some steel alloys will fully harden in air. You can anneal by slowing the cooling rate in warm ashes or similar, but better if you do not get the steel so hot that it hardens. Tempering, which is only the slight softening phase of the heat treating process, is done at a lower temperature. You can probably spring temper the tang, which should be soft enough to drill, by heating the tang only till it turns blue, then air cool.
All the above applies to moderately alloyed steels. If you have an air quenching tool steel like D2, which is what they make planer blades from, you cannot drill them in the hardened state with anything less that carbide, and even that is tough. The annealing cycle for such steels is far beyond the capabilities of a guy with a torch. Think 8 hours plus of carefully controlled temperatures ramped down at precise rates over time. Computer controlled kiln is needed here.
Best of luck,
Darcy