Spring Trap Knives

[smokehouseman]

Still not quite finished with this little project, I need to anneal the blade, fabricate a sheath and finish off with a thong handle. The overall length is 5½". The blade was fairly easy to shape using a file. I put the knives in a plastic bag with onion slices for about 24 hours to acquire it's finish. As is without annealing the blade seems to hold a pretty good edge if it were to be used for not much more than to cut patches at the muzzle but beyond that use it probably should be annealed.

 

[omarick1948]

:thumbsup:

 

[Chilidog]

Cool... :hatsoff:

 

[anvil1231]

Nice! :thumbsup: :hatsoff:

 

[grettadarlean]

I have been working with trap spring knives for a couple of years now. If you didnot re harden the blade there is no reason to anneal it.

 

[smokehouseman]

Very nice work :bow: .

 

[LRB]

Not bad. I like that.

 

[wayne1967]

Ok, I am confused..again. I though annealing "softens" the blade for stock removel?

 

[grettadarlean]

The way I read the post was, the knives were finished and they needed to be annealed. If the spring was worked with out being annealed, they are ready to go and annealing was not needed..

 

[Blizzard of '93]

nice work, looks authentic to frontier era.

 

[omarick1948]

Your right Wayne!....Anneal, work metal to desired shape etc. and then reharden metal! That works for most anywhooo! :hmm:

Looks good here, Smokehouseman...Nice Job!

Rick

:

 

[ohio ramrod]

When working metal there are three terms you should understand. 1. anneal-to heat to critical temperature and cool slowly- softens the metal. 2.Harden-to heat to critical temperature and quench ( in a water, salt, or oil bath) to cool rapidly (except for a few tool steels which will "air harden") This leaves a hard but brittle piece. 3. Temper, to heat to a point(usually 1/3 to 1/4 critical temperature) and cool slowly.This will leave a slightly softer piece than hardening alone but not as brittle. The usual process for making knives from springs is: one, anneal to get the metal workable.Two ,harden to give hard piece that will hold an edge. Three, temper to prevent breakage. I hope this helps . But then this is just MHO. If you can work the metal with out annealing you should not need to reharden or temper the blade.

 

[smokehouseman]

Thanks for getting me straight. When I made the blades all I did was to saw the spring trap to separate the two blades and then shaped the blades using a file. At no time were the blades ever subjected to high heat. If I understand you correctly from this point they can be considered good to go. Thanks again for the clarification.

 

[cadian]

Very nice work. I remember seeing a similar factory knife in an antique store awhile back, Made by Marbles if I remember right. A little bird and trout knife, I like yours better. Am almost tempted to sacrifice a trap to make a couple of knives. :thumbsup:

 

[cadian]

Very classy looking knife. :thumbsup: