An amputating knife I made

Actually,W1 plain carbon steel will take a keener edge than any other steel. If you want to make a straight razor,use W1. W1 is getting harder to get as everyone is making more alloyed tool steels. MSC has W1 in their catalog in a few sizes. Or,you could buy water hardening round drill rod and forge it down flat.

The thing about W1 is,it will get sharper,but will not hold the edge as long as the more alloyed steels. It is also the most treacherous of all steels to quench. It will warp or crack more than other steels due to the sudden shock of the water quench.

For the best quench,dissolve ice cream salt in water until a potato will float in it. A brine quench keeps little air bubbles from forming on the surface of the steel you're quenching,giving a more even quench. The brine quench will soon rust your work and your tongs,so rinse them off quickly after quenching. Draw a straight razor to only a very light brown temper.

An OLD,USA made file would make good steel for a razor. It has about 1.25% carbon,which is what you need.
 
While it's actual use is a bit gruesome, the knife itself is beautiful. From your description of the process it is obvious you took great care making it and it shows. I didn't know that blood will etch steel - does that go for any liquid in contact with metal like this, or is there some particular property unique to blood?

Thanks and great job!

Tex
 
It's something in blood that will etch. Perhaps the iron,I used to know,but forgot.

Blood can never be entirely removed from a knife,even if it doesn't show,it can be proved that the knife was used in a crime,if it is used as evidence.
 
I'm glad that I was not around back then,but if I was thats the knife I would want to be use on me if need be.Sure looks sharp,how much time do you think you have into it to get it to the point of installing the handle?---kroll
 
I can't recall the time element.I was just relieved that I found that I could grind the hollow shape with a flat surface belt. I'm pretty sure they would have had a convex shaped wheel to grind those on originally. I'm certain the hollow grinding was done in a day. The longest time on something highly polished is spent smoothing sand polishing. I used a Porter Cable profile sander with wet or dry paper on it to sand out the grinding marks. The old surgical instruments had extremely sharp intersections where hollow grind would meet a flat surface. Real hard edge sculpture. That had to be maintained.

Possibly a week for everything.
 
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