![]() ![]() Latticino, I agree with your advice about leaf or coils springs, especially if you are practicing to improve knife-making skills. I'm not saying using a spike is a soup to nuts dry run of knife making. We are just making recommendations based on our experience and trying to help. Of course anyone is free to go their own path. That is why, given the relative low cost of, say, automotive spring drops from a shop that replaces them (to date free with a little dumpster diving for me), many folks strongly recommend that you use actual high carbon steel to forge knives out of once you get basic forging skills under your belt. You can't learn that technique with mild steel. Mild steel just works differently.Īlso one of the key elements of making a good knife is heat treatment. It will be harder to work, and will need to be worked in a different temperature band to avoid either burning the steel at the high end or cracking it at the low end. I wouldn't call one a good knife by any stretch but they are fun to make and many like them. And if you are having fun or just practicing techniques there's nothing wrong with that.Īgree, but with one caveat: If you are practicing techniques for forging knives with spikes and expect the steel to move under the hammer while hot in the same way once you use actual high carbon steel you are in for a surprise. If you forge the head and tang out and add a traditional handle, then what's the point? Even if you add a high carbon edge your still left with an overly heavy handle and poor balance, and is a novelty item would hold a decent edge. ![]() There are a lot of things you can do with RR spikes, making a decent knife is not one of them. As for the chop test, would like to examine the edge before and after chopping with a radio shack hand held microscope, think it's something like 30 power? I've seen dull to the touch European swords cut mats with a single swing. The free hanging rope test is more about sharpness, geometry and speed of swing than steel or hardness. I didn't see the video, but I did see an article from Wayne Goddard about a student passing the free hanging rope test with a dead soft mild steel blade, it folded over in the 2x4 test. I have even seen some high carbon damascus RR spikes made and then forged into knives. I have seen some that had a high carbon or damascus edge welded on and have been wanting to try that myself but haven't had time. ![]() RR spikes can be fun to play with, but the simple fact is they lack enough carbon to make a decent knife. Will it skin a deer? Yes, but then so would a hammered out brass shell casing. Most people I see buying RR spike knives do it for letter openers and the novelty of it. You can make a knife from a RR spike, and you can play tricks with super quench or water or whatever to give it a marginal edge. ![]()
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