Indians For Guns

Experts I had this want To make a knife last year before i got my SOG so i ran place to place and got a patta (lEAf spring) gas cut and then polished at edGES ,well i was into daggers buT nOW i want to give it more of bowie shape and more importantly hOW DO I GIVE IT AN EDGE.

Thanks awaiting fEEDback

Hi Knifejunkie,

In order to put an edge on that, IMHO take it to a Lohar, put it back into the forge, and then get him to angle it down, so that you can put an edge on it.

Find a 'Ghanti' as we call it in Mumbai, which is nothing but a professional sharpener with a large sharpening wheel and put an edge on it. Or if you have a sharpening kit, try in on your own, but till you get in angled down to a V, your not going to be able to sharpen that hunk of metal.

Hope that helps.

Regards,
Pistolero

thanks was actually confused about that bit,had read on this forum i think that after you get the rough edge on the knife from the lohar (the V shape) it is hard to sharp it finely and to polish it.

Belt Sander.

Firstly if you want to re-profile the blade to a Bowie, you need to draw the actual profile on the blade and then remove the excess steel by grinding it off. Once you get your blade profile right, follow these steps:-

1. In order to put an edge, you need to grind a bevel on your blade first. A bevel is a uniform slope on the blade which recedes to a thin cutting edge. To do this, get yourself a Metal Grinder. These grinders come in different forms such as Bench Grinder, Belt Grinder , Surface Grinders etc. The most feasible one for small jobs like these is the Angle Grinder. If you want to rid yourself of this hectic task you may go to any Metal Workman and get it done for you.

2. After you grind a bevel on the blade, you need to put the actual edge. This can easily be done by sharpening the blade as if there was an edge actually on it. Again, sharpening can be done using good ol' oil stone or whetstone or any of the advanced sharpening system like a Lansky Kit etc.

3. Do give the whole blade a nice sanding to polish it neatly and give it a chrome colored finishing. This again can be done using any Grinder by applying the appropriate sanding grit.

4. Since you are using Leaf Spring Steel, there might not be a need for Heat Treating the knife. But, if you use high-speed grinders for stock-removal and sanding of your blade, the high RPM of these grinders will generate enough heat to ruin the hardness of your blade thereby introducing a need for HTing the blade. Heat Treating imparts strength to the blade and hence is a very crucial stage in knife making. Heat Treating can be done through multiple techniques. Achieving perfection in Heat Treating can pretty much be considered the Zen of Knife-making!

Note: While grinding a Bevel on your blade, you have a high degree of freedom as to what type of grind you want to put on your blade. Some primary knife grinds are shown below:


regards,
Aditya

Since you had it gas cut, you would need to heat treat the thing. Be very careful! These are damn high temperatures!!

First, you'll need to anneal it, in order to get uniform graining. Approx. 900-950 degrees, 1/2 - 3/4 hrs, followed by slow cooling. Slower the cooling, larger the final grains. Cooling alongwith the furnace (just shut the furnace, oven, chulha, whatever down with the steel inside, and let the whole thing cool down together) will give very large grain structure, which will not be useful for knives. You can do air cooling, with a fan on to get optimim grain size.

Then, you'll need to harden it. Bowie type knives & khukris (used for all purposes) are usually edge hardened, so that the edge becomes hard, and the less hard spine area can take hard knocks without breaking. Heat to 800-850, just the edge (being thinner) should be red. Chuck into coolant. You can use water for fast cooling (harder, but more brittle). Most people use burnt motor oil (the gunky stuff you get out of the engine when doing oil change. The oil will catch fire!

Lastly, temper, to remove any inconsistencies in the structure. Heat to 350-400 degs, 1/2 hr, air cool.

MANDATORY WARNING:........The above is just the process. Please do not try this at home!!! These temperatures are exceedingly dangerous. An old friend of mine, working for SAIL, once stepped into steel at 1000 deg. He was wearing metal soled safety boots. In spite of that, he spent a year or two under treatment, in India & abroad. Had to basically get half of his foot reconstructed with other parts! Thank goodness it was a PSU and they spent on his treatment.

Find a pro, and tell him to follow the process.