Cold steel seconds

[sgainbrachta]

Cold steel has 18" seax and bowie machetes as seconds- $8 and $10.

A LOT of us crafty types use these to make our camp knives and the like. They are great steel, even if these ones are warped a bit (along the flats) they are a great deal...

http://www.ltspecpro.com/Product/97SA18 ... CONDS.aspx

http://www.ltspecpro.com/Product/97BW18 ... CONDS.aspx

Suilad, randiran~

Eadylferth/Robert in Reno

[Willrett]

Has anyone seen the bowie in person yet?? I love the sax and may order another 2

[RikJohnson]

I considered those but have the cutlass machete and the Gladius machete I cut down to straight blade.

I jsut got my CS 2014 catalogue tlast night and have only skimmed through it but.. there goes my credit card again<g>.

[Ringulf]

Has anyone seen the bowie in person yet?? I love the sax and may order another 2

I have used it and thrown it and I have to say that it is just as nice to work with as the old seax blades were. In fact I have been filling orders with these lately for both throwing and working peices and have even modified them to a "broken back" or "wolfleg" type of seax. With a bit of shaping and imagination, these will also work for an Elven type hunting knife, or a very mannish woodsmans knife.

[bjaurelio]

How does one go about shaping the blade into a seax or elven hunting knife? I'm interested in trying a project like this.

[Elemmakil]

How does one go about shaping the blade into a seax or elven hunting knife? I'm interested in trying a project like this.

Hacksaw, files, and sandpaper of various grits, at a minimum. A bench grinder and belt sander can certainly help by speeding things up.

And thanks, folks, for posting this sale. I bought two of the sax blades. At $8 a pop I can't go too far wrong - even as raw steel I don't think I'd be able to get them cheaper.

[bjaurelio]

How does one go about shaping the blade into a seax or elven hunting knife? I'm interested in trying a project like this.

Hacksaw, files, and sandpaper of various grits, at a minimum. A bench grinder and belt sander can certainly help by speeding things up.

And thanks, folks, for posting this sale. I bought two of the sax blades. At $8 a pop I can't go too far wrong - even as raw steel I don't think I'd be able to get them cheaper.

Thanks, though it sounds like it would take quite some time and a lot of work using a hacksaw, files, and sandpaper. Sometimes I really wish I had the space for more tools.

[Elemmakil]

How does one go about shaping the blade into a seax or elven hunting knife? I'm interested in trying a project like this.

Hacksaw, files, and sandpaper of various grits, at a minimum. A bench grinder and belt sander can certainly help by speeding things up.

And thanks, folks, for posting this sale. I bought two of the sax blades. At $8 a pop I can't go too far wrong - even as raw steel I don't think I'd be able to get them cheaper.

Thanks, though it sounds like it would take quite some time and a lot of work using a hacksaw, files, and sandpaper. Sometimes I really wish I had the space for more tools.

Not necessarily - depends on what you are trying to do. If you have a hacksaw with good blades and are just reprofiling the blade, it actually goes pretty fast. Indeed, even though I have all the tools mentioned (and then some) I invariably use the hacksaw to rough out the profile. I only use the grinder and belt sander in the intermediate stage, to grind close to final shape. Final shaping and polishing is then done by files and sandpaper. I save some time using the power tools, but not that much

Since these blades are only 1/8" thick or so, hacksaws and files will do just fine.

[sgainbrachta]

HEy guys- a quick update. I ordered 5 sax, and 1 bowie.

All but 1 sax are perfectly straight... All came packaged, with sheaths- so grab a regulation but-ton of them for gifts, tools and the odd Rangering project!

As to shaping- the things you might want would be a HFT (Harbor Freight Tools) TSO (Tool Shaped Object) in the form of a 4 1/2" grinder, a 10-pack of grinding and cutting blades, AT LEAST 2 of the "C" clamp pseudo vise grips. Use the vise grips to clamp the blade to a table or edge of a work bench while you employ the grinder against the offending metal~ Cool the steel every now and again with a spong and water- or you could damage the temper. You'll see colors in the steel- a light sort of straw color isn't a problem, but a dark blue-grey is...

Use the cutting blades to remove the majority of the material you want removed- not the rubber handle- just whack that solidly with a hammer a few times, it'll split off. AFte the straight cuts are done, use the grinding wheel to remove (carefully!) the majority of the rest- then use the coarse flap wheel to finish the shape, and then the fine one to remove the burrs, the black powder-coating and such. Shape the handle with files, as it actually tends to be quicker- and power tools will generally allow you to mess up faster, is all~

The process is covered rather well in this thread- http://ranger.budgetauthenticity.org/fo ... =28&t=1613 along with some really good ideas.

Doing it isn't hard, it just takes a little planning and time, is all!

DO EEEET!!!

Suilad, randiran

[Ringulf]

How does one go about shaping the blade into a seax or elven hunting knife? I'm interested in trying a project like this.

I use the tools mentioned above as well, but I find that an angle grinder with both a cutting disc and a grinding disk are my work horse tools.
The only caution beyond the caution of safety, would be, as mentioned before, not to go to fast and hot so you don't change the temper of the metal. I also tend to stay away from the blade edge altogether if possible.

[RikJohnson]

How does one go about shaping the blade into a seax or elven hunting knife? I'm interested in trying a project like this.

When I bought the CS Gladius machete and a Hanwei Celt shortsword, I hated the leaf-blade design.

But I own a disc grinder.

So I used a rule and a sharpie to draw my desired shape onto the kept a sponge and a bowl of cool water handy, then took my time grinding down the blade, every couple seconds (and I mean couple, never more than three seconds) I'd stop and cool the steel with the sponge.

If the water steamed, I was grinding too hard or too long!

I found that if I took my time, I could keep the temper intact.

[sgainbrachta]

The steel these are made of, and the hardness they are (rather soft!), you be able to boil water on them and not touch the temper, really.

The temperature they are brought to to get to the rockwell of 45-46 is right about 600 degree F, so don't worry at all away from the edge- but if you get close to the edges areas (within say 1/2" or so~), be sure to keep it good and cool. Steam is fine, even a quick "sizzle"- but you should avoid that level of heat, as that's just a good habit to be in!

I re-hardened a scrap and did some tests, as I don't generally believe the manufacturer's word on materials- but lo and behold- it really did seem to be 1055-1060 steel!

So- here's what I did... Mostly because I'm a freak. And cannot throw stuff away. Like ever...

Your scraps will make great little tools, even- a good chisel or scraper or even chopper blade, sure- even a decent(not GREAT, but darned good~) knives. The long-term edge retention will be O.K., it would be easy to sharpen, but the steel as a very simple alloy will not be very flexible, so if you want a couple of small utility blades- it WILL work, and well- as it's scrap, the price is right!

To do so, get your basic shape, etc, done. Drill all holes, etc now- as later it'll be a LOT harder- do make sure you have the material you want to use for handle pins chosen, so you drill the right size holes. Now, you'll need heat until the metal is non-magnetic, use a welding magnet to check. A normal magnet will melt as soon as the blade hits it. Welding magnets have steel raised around the edges- so the magnets last a little longer around heat. ((HFT is the place for these~)) Quench in oil- veg oil, corn or olive- is good- heated until it is rather hot (not smoking, but too hot to touch!) and plunge it in once the right temp is gotten to. Move it about until it's down to about the temp of the oil. Remember, just because it isn't glowing don't mean it ain't hot!

Now comes the fun part! Put on good, thick leather gloves- and check the piece for straightness- if it needs a tweak, grab it and bend it! It will be movable for several seconds after it comes out of the quench while it's still too hot for a bare hand! You only get one chance at this, so move quickly and surely!

Right- now, once it has hit right about room temperature, but not much longer- no more than 20 or so minutes from the hardening quench- take it to your toaster oven (big ovens vary in heat cycles too much to trust~), set it to about 250, and let it sit in there for an hour- no longer. It's a good idea to clean off the oils as much as possible, so it won't smoke. I use old sandpaper that's almost dead to get scale and crud off, then a quick wipe down with alcohol and a paper towel~

Now, you'll want to test the hardness with a metal file, if it's too hard, run the temp up by 25 degrees, and do a test again. You want to creep up on the hardness you like, and it only takes an hour each time- so be patient! Use a piece of un-messed with steel (like another scrap, maybe?) as your baseline, so you know what your file feels like cutting steel from a know hardness of 45-46 Rc. A good knife will resist the cut of the file a LOT more than the machete steel will. If it "skates", then it's a bit too hard- back in the oven up another 25 degrees or so!

Now- once you done at least the first tempering cycle in the oven, you can come back later to do more heating/tempering cycles to get the heat you want- but you NEED to do the first one right away, or you risk stresses in the steel that can cause failures and cracks. To heat the steel, you'll want a really good torch, or a small forge if you have access. I use an Oxy-acetalyne or my mini-forge for these little one-off projects~ You can do it with a proper plumber's propane torch- the "swirl-fire" type like a Bernz-o-matic 6500 or 6800 series (Ace and Lowes carry them~). Those are also what I use for my mini-forge, in fact. In open air, you may want to use the yellow "MAPP" gas, as it gets a lot hotter.

Clean up the blade now, get all the scale, etc off of it, and be sure it's pretty darned close to what you want it to be~

Now you'll need some 5-minute epoxy, you pin materials, you handle materials, a couple spring clamps or vise-grips, files, sandpaper, finish of some kind...

So, now come the handles- use a good epoxy, pins can be nails or copper wire or steel or brass rods- hopefully the right size to fit through the holes you have in the steel!. Finish shape and sand the top (the part closest the blade) of BOTH handle scales before you glue them. I will tape them together, shape and sand them this way on the top. Don't worry about the shaping of the rest of the handle yet, you'll do that once it's mounted to the knife handle. Then you will glue one side in place-position the front of the scale right where you want it, allow the epoxy to set- about 15 minutes for "5 minute" epoxy, then drill the holes from the metal side, out through the glued-on scale.

Then I glue on the opposite side, lining the front of the scales up, and the holes I just drilled are my guides for this side! Then I glue in the pins by putting good size glob of the epoxy on top of the hole- and pushing the pin in from the glob, through the handle until it just peeks out the opposite side.

Leave it alone for a while now! So- see how the front of the knife- which you can't sand without damage to the blade is done? Easy peasy! File away the extra wood, pin material, and all that, make 'er fit your hand (don't look at it- just feel it in your hand! Trust me- your eyes will lie, your hand won't~ Sand file, shape, the fine sand hit it with a finish, and make a sheath...

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, if you ask me!

[Willrett]

i got 2 of the sax and can not see any reason they are seconds... I think it was a great deal

[E.MacKermak]

I got 3. One has a very slight curve to the blade, and the other 2 are slightly off center on the grind of the edge. Nothing likely to prevent use.