kostya che 26-05-2009 14:50
hello. what kind of steel is used to make them. is it possible to make a blade?
dim80 26-05-2009 15:09
The question is certainly interesting...
Quote:
“Measuring tool steels must have high hardness and wear resistance, maintain shape and size stability over a long service life. In addition, they require good machinability to obtain a high class of surface finish and low deformation during heat treatment.
For measuring tools, high-carbon steels U8-U12 and low-alloy steels of grades X, KhGS, KhVG, 9KhS are usually used, containing about 1% C and up to 1.5% St. Their hardness after heat treatment must be at least NKS 60-64. For measuring instruments of large size and complex geometry, nitrided steels of the 38Kh2MYuA type are used.
DOMINANTA 26-05-2009 15:10
Calipers have always used tool steel. Purely theoretically fit. But why ruin the ruin tool? It is better to offer someone for an exchange, for a forging.
serge-vv 26-05-2009 15:13
For measuring tools, high-carbon steels U8-U12 are usually used.
do not touch the barbell, take a file
dim80 26-05-2009 15:16
Sergey +1, by the way, from my quote it is clear that more than one grade of steel is used for the shtangel, h.z. what you run into. In short, I am for the file too!
serge-vv 26-05-2009 15:24
quote: Originally posted by dim80:
more than one grade of steel is used for the shtangel, x.z. what you run into.
of all the files named, it will be better for anyone, in a file you can, of course, already run into from U8 to U12, so the best file is the oldest and rusty one that has lain for 20 years in a garage pit, then they didn’t make it exactly from kaki, and sometimes they also branded the steel grade on the tool .
Ashedow 26-05-2009 15:36
And so constantly. Even at the factory, I remember, young people tried to put calipers on knives. Why does everyone want to spoil a good instrument?
dim80 26-05-2009 15:41
quote: Originally posted by Ashedow:
What pulls everyone
shine infection! and the file, it's RUSTY!
Threat and then a pancake, they remain only with backlashes under 0.5 mm ....
snake 26-05-2009 15:43
quote: Originally posted by DOMINANTA:
It is better to offer someone for an exchange, for a forging.
serge-vv 26-05-2009 15:46
quote: Originally posted by dim80:
shine infection!
I have a rusty bar at the dacha, it was about ... lost by accident by my dad and found by me ... well, very rusty, but I won’t let it dissolve early on knives
Mastor 26-05-2009 16:31
quote: do not touch the barbell, take a file
Forging with subsequent maintenance is desirable.
Barbarians... It's sacred...
Lesnoi 94 26-05-2009 16:41
quote: Originally posted by dim80:
Somewhere it was already unsuccessful attempts sharpen a metal ruler
Well .. how to say unsuccessful .. I didn’t really like it, but it cuts all sorts of mushrooms and vegetables quite tolerably.
Al_By 26-05-2009 16:53
At one time, every ism tool was dragged to the metrologist, he posted all the topics about the application .... He has not been heard for a long time ...
sm special 26-05-2009 17:26
I am a middle-aged man for a long time, but I know for sure - even before my birth, they learned how to weld a caliper tool. The bar was made of 45 steel at best; 50, and it is good if there was a competent improvement before welding to facilitate cutting.
verny 26-05-2009 19:08
To ruin a shtangel consciously is to worsen one's karma. )) Knives will become dull and lost.
Sincerely.
architect 26-05-2009 19:33
Which candy is easy to make, and vice versa?
You, Kostya, better try to forge a caliper from a knife. If it works out, a LOUD ovation is guaranteed.
A knife is not just a faithful household helper, but also a real passion for many men. Passion tied at the level of primary instincts. True, the cost of a good branded blade starts at $ 150, and the quality of cheap copies only upsets. But if there is a cottage, a solid blade can be forged by yourself. We tell you how to do it.
The quality of any knife is 90% dependent on the choice of workpiece. The best for such a case are American steel 154-CM and its Japanese counterpart ATS-34. There is, however, still an elite 440C, but it is absolutely for Damascus masters. In country conditions, the above-mentioned samples will be difficult to get. And therefore, having taken the information into account, we are looking for an ordinary Soviet file, you can even pretty used. The U-13 steel used for its production, of course, is susceptible to corrosion (the blade will have to be monitored), but in other respects it is not inferior to expensive tool brands. And most importantly, it will cost you a maximum of one hundred rubles.
Design Choice
For beautiful patterns, go to the market, where you can buy visual copies of the world's best brands for a symbolic price. Except your appearance such trifles have nothing to brag about, but you don’t buy them for the sake of steel, but for the sake of drawing.
Of course, if you are confident in your artistic taste, then you can draw a knife yourself. We advise you to test your strength by making a simple Roselli R-200. With a simple blade design and wide descents, this model will not cause much trouble for a beginner.
Forge
Unfortunately, for most models, the width of the file is too narrow, and you do not need such a thickness of metal. In a word, you can’t do without a forge. To organize it, you will need a forge and an anvil. As the latter, you can use any thick and even metal ingot, for example, a piece of rail. But with the "stove" you have to tinker.
There are many similar gizmos on sale, but they are not cheap - from 80 thousand rubles. Therefore, it is best to make a forge on your own - lay it out of refractory bricks.
Look at the diagram of a classic blacksmith's furnace.
1. Air supply for afterburning gases. You can take any metal tube with a diameter of 1-2 cm.
2. Chimney
3. Opening for material loading
4. Combustion chamber
5. Grate. You can buy ready-made, or you can drill holes in a thick cast-iron skillet.
6. Ash chamber. Plain metal box.
7. Air pipe
8. Window for fuel loading. You can do without it if you wish.
A vacuum cleaner can be used as a compressor, and a kitchen hood is also suitable.
As you can see, nothing complicated!
Forging
Before starting a fire, the file needs to be slightly prepared. Clamp it in a vise and cut off the notches with a grinder, at the same time rid the metal of rust. Fire up the forge and put the blank into the coals, slowly heat it up to 900 ° C. If you do not have a temperature meter, degrees can also be determined by eye, guided by the color of the metal.
The temperature regime in metallurgy is a serious thing, and therefore try to observe it. When the workpiece is heated to the color you need, it is time to knock with a hammer. Take a piece of iron with pliers and carry it to the anvil, where, during the forging process, give the plate the necessary shape and thickness. You still have to grind the metal, which means that it will definitely lose 2-3 millimeters.
Trimming and rough grinding
When you realize that you can’t give the iron a more precise shape, it’s time to pick up the grinder again. Disassemble the purchased Chinese knife and, using it instead of a template, transfer the desired shape to the workpiece. And then cut off with a diamond circle everything that remains behind the marking line.
At the same stage, the workpiece must be ground, achieving the desired wall thickness. Ideal for a grinder or grinder. But if there is time and patience, all the work is done with an ordinary file.
Now about the descents - it is also desirable to perform them even before hardening. In order to properly markup, the masters have their own method. Take a dark-colored marker and draw the blade of the workpiece with it both on one and on the other, at least up to half. Now, picking up a caliper, set the required width of the descent on it and, leading with one sponge along the perimeter of the blade, with the other, draw a trace parallel to the edge on the metal.
And again - it is most convenient to form slopes on a grinding power tool. But remember: descent is not sharpening! The thickness of the blade in the cutting part must not be reduced thinner than two millimeters. Otherwise it will crack when hardened. On the other hand, the same thickness of the metal must be observed along the entire length of the blade, at the same distance from the edge. This is very important for subsequent sharpening.
heat treatment
For steel to show itself in at its best, it must be properly hardened, and then just as correctly “released”. The simplest processing for U-13 (for other steel grades you need to look for your own recipes) is carried out as follows.
Zone hardening works best, so take a heat-resistant fireplace sealer (available at any hardware store) and apply it to the blade, as shown in the photo.
Thus, you protect the butt of the blade from heat treatment, while maintaining its viscosity. A day later, when the mastic dries, re-ignite the forge and heat the workpiece there to 900 ° C, then lower it into cold water with the tip down. A couple of moments, and hardening is ready. You can scrape off the sealant and make a "vacation".
The easiest way is to “let go” of metal in an ordinary kitchen oven. To do this, we heat it up to 200 ° C and leave the blade there for two and a half hours. Then we turn off the gas and let the metal cool down - always with the oven!
The piece will then look like this.
Grinding
And again we return to the grinder. Install coarse sandpaper (No. 120) on it and once again peel off the blade, saving it from noticeable defects. It should turn out like in the photo.
After that, the metal is brought to the state of a mirror with GOI paste.
And the last step is etching. Just dip the blade into a jar of phosphoric acid solution and let it "buy" there for an hour and a half. The resulting oxide film protects the steel well from corrosion.
Handle manufacturing
The design of the handle, of course, is an individual matter. Some people like plastic, others textolite. We recommend using soft woods such as apple. But before you take on the planer, take care of one more detail - bolsters (a small metal plate that is located between the blade and the handle). Bolsters can be machined from stainless steel or borrowed from a previously disassembled knife. This thing is purely decorative, so you can trust even the Chinese manufacturer.
It is convenient to carry out all rough work on the formation of the handle with the grinder repeatedly mentioned above (it is simply an indispensable tool in the manufacture of knives!).
Of course, final finishing will still have to be done by hand, but against the general background, these are trifles. The main thing to remember is that the “sandpaper” must be gradually changed to a smaller one.
In the final, in order to protect our work, we degrease the tree and immerse it in heated wax for several minutes. This will not only protect the handle from moisture, but also prevent it from slipping in the palm of your hand.
sharpening
And finally sharpening. This is the process that can turn a piece of beautifully crafted steel into a real razor or ruin it forever. Since a lot of sweat has already been shed over the manufacture of the knife, the second option is undesirable. Therefore, we make a reservation - no electric emery is suitable for such a delicate process. Not only can you accidentally cut off too much at high speeds, there is still a risk of overheating the metal at the point of sharpening, making an unplanned vacation.
Professional sharpeners or their homemade or even Chinese counterparts are best suited for forming a cutting edge.
The manufacturer's name is irrelevant. Everything will depend on the bars and your patience.
First of all, fix the blade and set the sharpening angle to 17-20 °. Attach a rough abrasive block to the bar. If you are using diamond sharpeners, it will be "extra extra coarse" or at least "coarse". But in the second case, it will take a little longer to work.
After the knife is fixed and the abrasive is exposed, start sharpening. Drive the block only perpendicular to the cutting edge. Wash the abrasive with soapy water every 15-20 strokes. When you have removed the required thickness of the metal, turn the blade over and continue working on the other side.
After rough sharpening, fine-tuning follows. Again, if you take a diamond, then this is the “extrafine” bar class. If a ceramic stone, then the grain size will be 1000. The tool must move along the blade, that is, perpendicular to the previous sharpening.
Finally, for polishing, use an "extra extra fine" diamond or ceramic with a grit of about eight thousand. There is no point in polishing with a smaller tool. When working, again change the movement of the bar, working it perpendicular to the edge. This moment is very important. Final grinding should never be done along the blade, only across!
OK it's all over Now. The path of turning a file into a knife has been completed. You can try to shave them!
From the outside it seems that it is easy to make a knife, that it is just a sharpened steel strip, yes wooden handle. But when it comes to practice, the picture changes dramatically. The main thing in this process is knowledge and experience. When you know, everything is simple, when there is no experience, everything is difficult.
Recently, I posted a photo on the Internet with seven blades made in one day in a Stakhanov impulse.
Alexander Kudryashov in a comment asked me to tell you how I make smooth and symmetrical descents.
In response, I joked: "It's simple: you take a" magic marker ", draw smooth slopes, pronounce wonderful words, and smooth slopes are ready."
But is it really a joke? A joke, of course, but the truth is somewhere nearby.
Later, I offered to come and see in practice how the correct descents and the whole knife are made. And this proposal was accepted.
According to my idea, Alexander himself had to take part in the manufacture a little: choose a blank for the blade, material for the handle, the preferred length of the blade and handle. Alexander had to leave our experiment with a ready, solid, and most importantly, working knife.
Alexander arrived smartly, in light sand-colored trousers and a coyote-colored fleece jacket, which was completely unsuitable for the upcoming work. I had to give him work pants and a camouflage shirt in case he got dirty. Everything fit perfectly - we are the same size.
In the workshop, work went according to a predetermined plan. The good old mechanical saw from a quick cut was chosen as the material for the blade. Why?
This is a well-known and repeatedly tested steel of industrial hardening. Yes, it is difficult to process, but due to red resistance (the ability long time withstand heat without reduction in hardness) does not require cooling.
The thickness of the chainsaw is 2 mm, which is enough for most working knife tasks. Knives made from mechsaws are light, hold their sharpening well and, what is important, they are completely legal: the small thickness of the blade dismisses any suspicion of involvement in melee weapons.
In general, there are many grades of high-speed steels, but the manufacturer does not always indicate a specific grade, often limited to the HSS (high speed steel) brand. New saws are rare and more expensive.
For a knife maker, the novelty of a mechsaw does not matter, therefore, for the manufacture of a knife, it can be used as new saw, and pretty well worked and even broken. The result will bear little resemblance to the original material. Among the shortcomings, one can note the tendency of steel to chipping under lateral load and its susceptibility to corrosion.
Alexander chose a suitable fast-cut saw blade (HSS made in USSR). I cut off the excess and made an outline of the future knife on emery, then processed the workpiece with a brushing tool - a rotating steel brush, giving it a noble black sheen, and painted the blade part on both sides with a blue wide marker intended for warehouse work.
Using the paint of the marker with a caliper, I marked out the lines of future descents, paying special attention to the synchronism of their exit to the butt. The resulting lines were circled with a “magic marker” with silver paint, which is nothing more than aluminum powder in a polymer binder.
Why exactly them? Very simple. This paint withstands high temperatures, adheres well to metal and holds firmly. The paints of ordinary colored markers burn out, wear out, and crumble during metal processing. And the silver is holding on. That's all the magic.
I installed the blade on a special device for removing slopes (a cheaper version of the device from Chapay, made independently from a steel corner). I marked with a marker the place where the descents will begin, and fixed it with a hand vise.
I did the rough metal removal with a yellow 3M Cubitron II with P24 grit on a machine with an abrasive belt (on a grinder). For uniformity, I began to remove the metal from the mark with a marker at the future handle and moved to the tip with a uniform, gentle pressure.
At the same time, it is very important to apply the future blade to the tape evenly, in parallel, without distortions. I let Alexander stand at the machine for a while at the initial stage, using special tools. Conclusion of descents is a process that requires experience.
Shortly before reaching the silvery lines of the “magic marker”, I changed the tape to P60 abrasive and began to level the line of descents. I made several movements from the tip to the handle, creating a right angle at the beginning of the descents. Then work began on the risk of descents.
For this, it turned out to be enough work on abrasives P80 and P120. It is unreasonable to use abrasives P180 and finer for very hard high-speed steels. This is not a cubitron II, and abrasives work poorly and for a short time on such hard steels. At the same time, it is important that the blade is finished on the same tape, otherwise the sides will look different.
A quick cut knife does not require constant cooling during processing, and this is one of the pleasant moments in its manufacture. Of course, the knife should not be overheated, because the increased temperature of the steel leads to a quick clogging of the abrasive with sticky metal particles - to salting.
Excessive pressing of the metal to the abrasive is undesirable for the same reason. A tape clogged with metal, which no longer “nibbles”, but “licks”, can be refreshed. To do this, it is necessary to remove the clogged with metal, licked tops of the abrasive and release the grains that lie deeper.
Make it simple. You need to take a quick-cut saw blade and easily, like a file, run it obliquely towards the moving tape at the bend (on the contact roller). This action will not give the abrasive its original aggressiveness, but it will refresh it and allow it to work more.
After the first side was brought to the finishing state, I turned the blade on the fixture to the other side, fixed it and took up the second side. It is always more difficult to make it, because you need it to be the same as the first one.
In addition, the workpiece is less visible, it heats up more, and the contact with the massive device that performs the function of a heat exchanger is no longer so dense ... However, the blade was ready.
On a felt wheel with polishing paste, I corrected traces of metal tint. Once again I want to remind you that it was a high-speed steel, the hardness of which does not suffer from heating.
After marking the locations for the two holes on the shank with a felt-tip pen, I drilled them with a six-millimeter tile drill bit. I must say that on the first of these holes the drill has exhausted its resource (it was about its 50th hole).
Without the slightest upset, I took out another cheap pen drill from the blister, drilled the unfinished first hole and drilled the second in 40 seconds. Then, with a larger diameter drill with a carbide tip, he chamfered the holes.
I cut the blank on a band saw to the given dimensions, attached a shank to it and drilled the first hole in the wooden blank with a regular drill. I inserted a six-millimeter pin into the hole, put a shank hole on it and drilled a second one. I marked with a marker where the edge of the shank would be in the handle, and started marking for the future slot for the shank. The cut under the shank was performed on a band saw.
I know that a particular blade makes a kerf 1.5 mm wide. I needed a cut for a shank 2 mm thick, so I inserted a double-folded sheet of cardboard with a total thickness of 0.5 mm to the left of the workpiece and finished the cut to the required width.
After that, I started shaping the shape of the handle. According to the plan, it was a straight handle of a universal knife, representing an octahedron in cross section. This was not my first knife with an octagonal handle, which looks strict, but has a good grip, is very comfortable and does not turn in the hand.
I did all the work on the grinder using wood tape. I set the necessary edges and started removing the risks with a decrease in the grain of the abrasive. At the end, I manually smoothed everything with an abrasive Scotch Bright, similar to a hard flat washcloth.
And now it's time for installation. Having measured the thickness of the handle at the mounting points, I added 2 millimeters each and cut off pieces of a tube of a given length with a small pipe cutter. The shank of the blade is inserted into the slot of the handle. He walked with an interference fit, so he even had to use a manual rack press (up to 600 kg).
With a press, I gently pressed the tubes into the handle through the shank through and through. Then he went directly to flaring.
He took out a set of shiny balls from bearings of different diameters, put one small ball on the lower platform of the press, and the second on the upper cut of one of the tubes and stretched the edges of the tube. I did the same with the second tube.
I performed this operation with a gradual increase in the diameter of the balls. Now it remained to do the finishing operations of flaring with a jewelry hammer with a polished striker.
A jar of natural beeswax has already warmed up in a water bath. The knife handle went into wax for impregnation and subsequent cooling. Beeswax is a natural food grade polymer. The wood impregnated with it does not accept moisture and does not slip in the hand.
In my kitchen, all the knives are waxed, and nothing is done with them. You can keep the knife in wax in a water bath for as long as you like - at least an hour, at least two, or even five minutes.
It is always good to refresh the wood of a knife handle or butt of a gun from time to time with ballistol or oil - linseed, vegetable. An alternative to hot wax will be natural oils, latex-based compounds, silicone oil, special oils for wood (once sold in Ikea), varnishes.
Each option has its pros and cons. So, the disadvantage of wax is that it is undesirable for knives that were assembled with glue (it usually does not tolerate high temperatures).
natural oils polymerize for a long time (forever). Ballistol with regular use gives a nice smooth surface.
Silicone oils do not polymerize, but they fit well into wood and are moisture resistant. Lacquers perform only surface protection. After the wax had cooled, I removed the excess from the handle, polished it on a felt wheel, and then manually with a paper towel.
The last thing left is sharpening. It is impossible to leave the blade simply reduced to zero - it will crumble, and this has been verified. You need to make a small supply.
I made it on Russian diamond bars (in the direction of reducing the grain size), having previously moistened and rubbed them with a bar of soap. Soapy water adheres better to stones and lubricates better.
Finishing without pressing the edge forward I did with soapy water on Green brazilian slate. All! The knife shaves. Taking a test birch log well dried in the workshop (it lay for 5-6 years), I checked the sharpness and durability of the cutting edge, the convenience and controllability of the knife on it with dashing planing.
Bottom line: the knife is inclined to angrily burrow into the tree, cuts cheerfully, is comfortable in the hand, the cut of the tree shines like polished, and the edge is intact and does not shine. In general, the knife can be safely given to work ...
It's nice to see a childish gleam in the eyes of a healthy man looking at a new useful toy that was born under him!
Many fans of working with metal often buy expensive blanks for their products. But often find good metal not difficult, and it can even lie around in your workshop. For example, a good old file is suitable for making a good knife. It is made from steel with a high carbon content, which allows it to be hardened. In addition, the file has an excellent shape for making a knife profile.
In this tutorial, we will look at how to make a good file knife using simple tools. Such a knife will be very sharp, will keep sharpening for a long time, it will be possible to cut even wire, and it will still remain sharp for a long time.
Materials and tools used
List of materials:
- an old file;
- wood for the handle.
List of tools:
- epoxy adhesive;
- ;
- vice;
- screwdrivers, awl and other "pickers";
- sandpaper;
- wood impregnation oil;
- paper, pencil, scissors, etc. (for making a template);
- marker;
- heat source for metal processing;
- caliper;
- a set of files;
- clamps;
- a piece of steel plate;
- desirable (not required);
- a good helper in the manufacture of knives is.
Knife making process:
Step one. Choosing the right file
Not every file is suitable for making a quality knife. The thing is that before the files were made from good high-carbon steel entirely. Now manufacturers are trying to save money in every possible way, as a result, softer metal can easily be hidden in the center of a new file than outside, and this is very unpleasant.
There are many ways to check such a file. First of all, check the metal for a break. Clamp the file in a vise and try to beat off a small edge with a hammer. A piece of the file should fly off without any bends in the core, the cleavage should have a uniform gray color.
You can also check the file with a grinder or sharpener, cut off a little from the file and then try to grind off the central part. In this case, thick sparks should pour, this indicates the presence of carbon.
Even the metal of the file can be scratched both outside and in the center. If the file scratches more easily in the center, then the core is not made of high carbon steel.
However, if you find a file from the times of the USSR, you should not have any problems.
Step two. Knife design
Next, you must come up with the design of your knife, here already proceed from the size of the file that you have selected. The finished design can be downloaded from the Internet, and then printed on a printer and cut with scissors. If you wish, you can use the design that the author came up with or modernize it. There is nothing complicated about this, it's just a creative moment.
Step three. Annealing the metal
The whole secret of working hard metals by hand lies in their preliminary annealing. If you heat hard metal and let it cool in the open air, it will become soft, like plasticine. After that, it can be easily sharpened with a file, cut with a hacksaw, drilled and so on. And when you do all the work, the steel is hardened again and becomes hard.
For annealing, you will need a primitive furnace, it can even be made from an old barrel or a few refractory bricks. For a high temperature, you will need coal, you can buy it ready-made or just light a fire with good logs. Coals will definitely need to be inflated with air, due to the supply of oxygen, they begin to burn more actively and generate more heat.
You can inflate the coals with a household hair dryer, vacuum cleaner, hot air gun or even an ordinary pump.
The metal must be heated until it becomes uniformly red. You can determine the desired temperature with a permanent magnet, it will not be attracted to steel heated to a “critical” temperature. When you reach the desired value, let the file cool in the air, and preferably with coals.
Step four. Cut out a rough profile
We transfer the knife template to the workpiece. To do this, we attach a paper template to the file and circle it with a marker. To make it easier to see, the author paints everything around the profile with chalk.
Well, now we clamp the file in a vise and slowly cut off all that is superfluous. Here you will need a hacksaw for metal. You can use the grinder, if available. In general, any metal band saw will work well.
Having cut out the rough profile, now refine it. Use metal files, clamp the workpiece in a vise. All this work is not difficult. For finer finishing, use sandpaper.
Step five. We form bevels
Bevels are a very important thing in a knife. What you make them, so the knife will cut. Bevels should have as smooth an angle as possible, then the blade will be thin and the knife will cut well. To make high-quality bevels, first carefully mark everything. Decide on their width and draw a bounding line on both sides.
In addition, you have to draw a centering line that will divide your future blade into two parts. In fact, this line will be the blade. To draw such a line, pick up a drill exactly the same diameter as the thickness of the workpiece. We apply the blade and drill to a flat surface and draw a line.
The next step is hardening, which will make the metal hard. In this regard, complete the basic work with the metal in this step. Do not sharpen the knife, as when heated and hardened, it can easily be moved. In addition, thin metal overheats.
Step six. Hardening and tempering
The metal needs to be hardened first, but after hardening it will be too brittle and the knife cannot be used. After quenching, the metal must be tempered.
For hardening, we heat the steel until it loses its magnetic properties. The color of the metal must be uniform. Next, we put on good gloves, take the workpiece with claws and lower it into oil, the author used sunflower in a volume of two liters, but the more the better. We wait until the knife has cooled to the desired temperature and take it out.
Run a sharp object across the knife, such as a file. If it is well hardened, it should not be scratched. If the steel is not hardened, try to cool it more intensively. Try it in water first, and if that doesn't help, add salt to the water at the rate of 7-10% salt per weight of water used. Salty water is the most active cooler for such a case.
After hardening, place the knife in a domestic oven heated to a temperature of 175-350 o C. You should heat the workpiece for an hour or two. At right temperature the metal should turn a light brown color. Let the oven cool down with the knife without opening it. That's all, now we have received the workpiece required for hardness.
Step seven. Details for the handle
To attach the handle and decorate it, you will need to make two oval-shaped parts (in the shape of the handle). They can be cut from sheet metal or made from the rest of the file. Drill holes in the center and then bore them with needle files so that the shape and size of the part can be put on the shank. The author's dimensions of the ovals were approximately 26 by 19 mm.
In the first part, we talked about the main differences between branded products and Chinese fakes. In this article, we will explain some of the rules for choosing knives in general, talk about the most forged knives and the method of determining authenticity.
So, when choosing a knife “at random” (that is, not knowing for sure whether it is branded or not, not being able to compare it with the original and not even imagining whether there is such an original model or if you have it in front of you - the fruit of the uncontrollable imagination of Chinese manufacturers), you should remember a few general rules.
- Do not purchase "unnamed" knives (that is, products without hallmarks, inscriptions and logos). The “but name” knife is almost a 100% Chinese craft.
- If you see the word International anywhere, you have a Chinese product in front of you (Malaysia or Turkey at best). Such a “logo” is supplied with low-grade copies of the simplest branded knives. The quality of the blade steel, anti-corrosion properties, reliability, build quality and finish of such specimens are below average.
- Knives with German or Japan Design markings, as well as Hand made, Laser steinless steel - are definitely made in China.
- Fake knives are equipped with both blades and handle liners made of low quality steel. Such steel looks dull, it does not polish to a mirror finish, quickly “catches” rust points and, as a rule, is polished with noticeable flaws.
- When buying a knife, be sure to inspect the packaging and accompanying documentation. It must be labeled and specifications products: dimensions, grade and hardness of steel, nuances of production technology.
The most forged knives
In the unspoken rating of fakes, knives from Germany are in the lead (without specifying the manufacturer, just German knives in general). This is due to the inviolability of quality and the age-old traditions of Solingen. An excellent German knife with the stigma of an ancient city - the European blade "Mecca" - is always a coveted trophy for a connoisseur of edged weapons and even for an average consumer. Alas! The reputation of the glorious city was greatly undermined by Chinese knife companies, which, in order to conquer the sales market, even managed to rename the whole city in their homeland Solingen! Remember: if you see a knife with the name Solingen - this is frank China. No real German blade or scissors has such a name - just Solingen. Here you can loudly declare: Achtung! Fake!
The glory of the Swiss army knives by no means could pass by the enterprising Chinese businessmen. And now the whole world is flooded with pseudo-Victorinoks and pseudo-Hungarians. How to protect yourself from buying a fake? There are several recommendations.
- Purchase products and Wenger only in branded stores. All sorts of stalls and stalls do not sell real Swiss knives. Of course, today fakes “flash” in the company store, but the likelihood of encountering them there is much less.
- Pay attention to packaging. At a minimum, it should be a high-quality cardboard packaging of the original form, with an attached instruction and a guarantee for the product. Luxury knives have the original plastic packaging with a guarantee, instructions and a thank-you note for purchasing the brand's products.
- The main cutting blade of each Victorinox knife is marked with the manufacturer's logo and the stamp of the brand of the knife.
Of course, rough fakes can be distinguished from the original at one glance: dull blades, flimsy construction, sloppy finish, pin backlash, poor locks, obvious weak functionality of tools - all these are signs of non-originality.
It is more difficult to determine the authenticity in high quality counterfeit products. In this case, knowledge of the features of each model and attention to small details will help you. Pay special attention to the packaging, accompanying documentation and the case - the Chinese are more “pressing” on the knife itself, and accessories and packaging are done “as usual” - carelessly and from whatever.
The main blade of the original knives opens smoothly, without much effort. Opening a counterfeit blade requires considerable force.
The coating of the blade must be flawless and not dull. Open the main blade so that the hilt blade is at a 90 degree angle. The original knife will read both rows of the inscription on the blade, unlike a fake.
All tools of the original knife open easily and instantly. You shouldn't have any difficulty with this. If you see any “unit” included in the knife toolkit, which is not at all clear how to open it with the “naked” hand, this is most likely a counterfeit knife.
Another detail that betrays a fake knife. The weaving of the cord of a counterfeit product is of poor quality, as is the casting of the key fob itself.
Another company whose products have recently become the object of persecution by Chinese “homemade” is the Italian giant of combat and tactical knives. The Chinese approached the counterfeiting of Extreme models with particular care, so if you want to buy a real thing, and not throw hundreds of dollars into the wind, be very careful with the choice of both the seller and the knife itself.
Literally the entire model range of the Italian manufacturer has undergone fakes - from the combined arms Shrapnel to the MF 2 Ordinanza Col Moschin gift box, which is especially depressing.
- Going to the store for an EXTREMA RATIO knife, arm yourself with a good caliper and study the parameters of a future purchase. Chinese manufacturers often neglect the subtleties. So, for example, they reduced the standard of the butt for Extrema to 6.3 mm in their fakes to 6.0 mm. It will be easy to determine with the help of a gauge.
Here is a small overview of the Chinese replica of the model Fulcrum Bayonet, We hope that highlighting the features of this craft will help you develop your own methods for determining the authenticity of knives from Extrema.
The knife is called Extreme Ratio Straight Knife. His performance characteristics:
Full length: 30.8 cm.
Blade length: 18.0 cm.
Blade thickness in butt: 6.0 mm.
Blade Material: steel 8CR13MOV
Tempering hardness: 58 units on the Rockwell scale
The weight: 980
As you can see, even after studying the original data, we can conclude that this is a counterfeit: the thickness of the blade in the butt does not correspond to the original, the material of the blade is not at all reliable N690. For some reason, the weight is indicated with a cover, and it is too big.
Externally, the knife is very similar to the original. The handle of the "green" version is too bright. The plastic scabbard has a burr along the seam. There is a device for cutting barbed wire (operation has not been established). Instead of a stone for sharpening, the economical Chinese glued a piece of sandpaper. In general, the cover does not cause any particular complaints, which cannot be said about the belts for attaching to the thigh. They are just disgusting. The bayonet mount is not functional. As for the declared hardness of the blade, this is an outright lie: testing has shown that the blade quickly becomes dull even when planing chips. But in general, this copy can be used ... as a souvenir, but nothing more.
As you can see, Chinese fakes can still be brought to light. Be vigilant when choosing a cutting tool, trust only high-quality branded models and do not join the ranks of victims of Chinese would-be knifemakers. And we, in turn, will reveal as much as possible all the subtleties of the difference between genuine blades and counterfeit ones.