Blank blades WIP Thread.

[Blank Blades.]

Oh yeah. I didnt mention it yet.

I got to sharpen one of the asp-2053 blades.

This stuff is took a nice edge right off my f400. Which is always a good sign to me. After a few strops with 1 micron diamond it was very crisp.

Sharpening has always been one of the biggest ways I personally judge how much I like a steel.

Its why i really like going into the 65+ hrc range. A good bit of these tool steels, like m4, 10v, k390 with 66-68 hrc (provided retained austenite isnt too high) really come up nicely on the stones. And at least initial impressions of asp-2053 are right to the top of my list. Of course it too early for me to just say this is one of my favorite steels to sharpen, but....

It being 68.5 hrc probably helps it out. Lol.

But also. One thing, that i didn't notice. Is that with super high hrc steels, like maxamet, and also I have seen 15v do this. they can tend to have the entire apex come off it you go too big on the burr. I didnt try pushing it to that extent really, but i wasnt super careful about it either.

 

[Blank Blades.]

Moved. Currently getting the new shop setup.

I think I spent 24 hours straight no sleep working to get everything arranged. I still need to do more. But had to stop because I'm just exhausted. Had to load everything, unload everything..still gotta finish up more unpacking but gonna rest.

 

[Blank Blades.]

Got the new shop set up pretty much. Going to move things around as i go, and find the best place for stuff as the need arises.

But, the good news is once i get really going again I will just be making knives full time. I really wanted to keep making progress on this batch. After basically having to grind to a halt over the last couple weeks because of the move. But there is an issue with the mail, and some of the stuff i needed to polish the blades. So I'm kind of stuck waiting on that.

 

[Blank Blades.]

@Troopah_Knives put his article on asp-2053 out today on patreon. If you are interested in knife steels I highly recommend giving him a follow! I promise there likely isn't a person here that wouldn't learn a thing or two from his articles (being conservative it will be more than a thing or two lol).

Anyone into nerdy steel metallurgy stuff that isnt following him there yet is doing themself a disservice imo.

About there steel.

There is a lot still up in the air, still, as far as the exact properties. Being what I have mentioned already, about it not quite being like 10v, or k390 but similar. And not quite like the high speed steels out there that I see, but also similar. Without going into too much, it will be really interesting to see this stuff catra tested, and charpy tested.

I think there is a decent likelihood it has a really nice combination of properties. And in the worst case scenario, it ends up just being similar to 10v. But it reaches 68.5 hrc without breaking a sweat.

 

[Barmoley]

Read the article, very interesting. Still very interested in this steel.

 

[Blank Blades.]

Yeah. Even if the wear resistance just falls between k390 and 10v, and the toughness just stays in line with the other similar steels in the 65+ hrc range. I think its still a good choice.

It certainly sharpens nicely.

 

[Blank Blades.]

A rehandle and restoration for a kato.

This is the last rehandle I'm going to do. I really don't like doing them. I take on way more risk, since people are sending me $1000 knives, and then I have to stress out about making sure they dont get broken or lost.

Also it I have to spend time working on the handle and all that, that I could spend making my own knives. And getting paid less to do these. And just putting a new handle on someone elses knife really isn't as fulfilling as making my own.

So there is basically no positive side to me continuing to do rehandles for people.

 

[Blank Blades.]

Making progress.

There's another custom in m4 but i dont have the handle material for that one yet.

 

[Blank Blades.]

@SABOL BROTHERS to answer your question yes. I temper in the lower range.

You can look at larrins results on testing different steels in the low and high range for corrosion resistance. It makes a pretty large difference.

Also for cold work tool steels they tend to have increased toughness for a given hardness when tempered in the lower range. So there isnt any benefit to properties that would come from a 1000+ temper on 10v.

 

[Blank Blades.]

Got the handles lookin nice.

 

[Blank Blades.]

Got the timascus ones anodized. I think im pretty happy with the color combo

Also got all the choils and spines polished. Gonna start moving forward with blade polishing again soon.

About time to start putting the bolsters and handles together also.

 

[Blank Blades.]

Still making progress. On stuff.

Got this mokume bolster polished and etched yesterday. Which was a huge ordeal. Because i dropped it like 5 times and had to repolish it every time. Because its awkward to hold onto. Wasted basically the whole day just doing that over and over.

But im happy with the end result at least.

Got a new 400 grit vitrified diamond stone in, along with diamond films i was waiting on to start polishing these knives.

I desperately need a 1000 grit diamond stone still. For those of you who havent seen my f400 venev, its gotten even worse.

Anyway. Spent today polishing blades. Got the asp-2053 ones up to the final grit. Need to do straight pulls on it still.

And got one side of the apex ultra knife most of the way there.

 

[blokey]

Still making progress. On stuff.

Got this mokume bolster polished and etched yesterday. Which was a huge ordeal. Because i dropped it like 5 times and had to repolish it every time. Because its awkward to hold onto. Wasted basically the whole day just doing that over and over.

But im happy with the end result at least.

View attachment 292924

Got a new 400 grit vitrified diamond stone in, along with diamond films i was waiting on to start polishing these knives.
View attachment 292925

I desperately need a 1000 grit diamond stone still. For those of you who havent seen my f400 venev, its gotten even worse.

Anyway. Spent today polishing blades. Got the asp-2053 ones up to the final grit. Need to do straight pulls on it still.

And got one side of the apex ultra knife most of the way there.
View attachment 292926

Nice, which stone is that?

 

[Blank Blades.]

Nice, which stone is that?

Its from our guy out in hong kong

 

[Justinv]

Can you explain the issue with Venev 400? Worn out?

 

[Blank Blades.]

Can you explain the issue with Venev 400? Worn out?

I have worn through all the abrasive on top, down to the base plate on about 1/4 of the entire surface of my f400.

The f400 stone is fine. Ive just used mine up.

 

[mc2442]

I am glad you are up and running again. Moving sucks regardless, but I cannot imagine moving a shop like yours!

 

[jedy617]

Its from our guy out in hong kong

Do you like it?

 

[Blank Blades.]

Do you like it?

So far seems good. I messed with it in the as received condition. On my 10v para 3 reblade felt good, good feedback. Though 400 grit should have decent tactile feedback whether resin bonded or vitrified.

Used it for thinning/polishing behind edge on one of the asp-2053 gyutos, and an apex ultra one. It wasnt completely flat, the sides and both ends were higher than the middle, so that effected some things. But the important thing i was looking at, was how cut, and if it was friable or not.

On the asp-2053, which is 68.5 hrc (i think it might have been just above that actually), 18%ish mc type carbide volume. it smoothed over the more i used it. And felt glassy by the end.

The apex ultra which should be around 67 hrc. But has a much much lower mc type carbide volume. Was able to get it cutting again just by following it up with thinning this.

My conclusion from the stone so far is if you are doing edges. With this specific batch, you in theory would never need to redress the stone to keep it cutting. But if you were to thin something very extreme like i did here. You very well may need to once or twice in a session.

That said apparently the new batch has a harder bond. So this wont be relivant to those. I personally think keeping it how it was would have been the better move if the intended use is on hard, high carbide volume steels. If the intended use is for normal steels the harder bond is probably better.

 

[Blank Blades.]

I started lapping last night. Decided to finish it. 60 grit sic. Then ill follow with 220 to condition the surface.

The outside was higher than the middle. Now i just have a small spot i need to lap out.

 

[Blank Blades.]

I should cut some swarf channels in this tile.

Idk if it would actually help with this part specifically. But i think it would be a good idea.

Thats me lifting the tile with just the suction from the stone

 

[Blank Blades.]

Ended up finding a hairline crack in the apex ultra gyuto. So i had to make it into something else. I'm personally not a huge petty fan, and the spine thickness seemed perfect for a honesuki. So i made a right hand biased honesuki. Got it ground, and did some stone work. Just need to round over some parts, and i'll be caught back up... I might have to make some adjustments to the handle. But i'll see.

 

[Blank Blades.]

Choil shot for the fun of it.

as you can see. Very much right handed.

 

[Blank Blades.]

Decided to see what the handle looks like on it now (the machi gap wont be there at the end)... I definitely think it might need to be shorter at least now... Idk. Kinda sucks. Because i thought it was perfect with the gyuto sized knife.

Would like to hear any opinions for sure.

 

[jedy617]

I still like it

 

[Blank Blades.]

Gonna have to polish the spine and choil again, and then go back and take single passes to get the satin perfect. But here is close to how it will be.

 

[Barmoley]

Gonna have to polish the spine and choil again, and then go back and take single passes to get the satin perfect. But here is close to how it will be.
View attachment 293326

Please don't polish the cat. They usually come with spines already polished. The two of mine are like that, everything besides the cutting edges are very smooth and rounded.

 

[Blank Blades.]

Please don't polish the cat. They usually come with spines already polished. The two of mine are like that, everything besides the cutting edges are very smooth and rounded.

But mine isn't shiny

 

[MSicardCutlery]

Nothing 30 seconds on the buffer won't fix

 

[Blank Blades.]

Got the new batch started.

Still waiting for more steel to come in for more knives.

On the left, the top 3 are asp-2053. Its a honesuki, and a santoku.

Then a custom gyuto in it.

Then i have 2 a2 gyutos, 1 roughly 210x52, the other 240x55. Going to go for the banding wootz look on them.

On the right are 3 edcs in wolfram special, differentially hardened.

I really want to make more high wear resistance honesuki's, i think gyutos are great in these steels, but i think honesuki's are a place steels like asp-2053, 10v, zmax, even maybe rex 121 could really shine. Doing 10v honesuki's was my first real step into making kitchen knives myself, and though i have moved away from them a bit. I really think i should start making them again, exclusively in steels like these. Maybe i can do m4 also. But no less wear resistance than that.