slingbadger
Interfector Viris Spurii
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Don't Badger a Badger
Posts: 3220
Akron NY
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Once you have the knife the shape you want and have hardened it, you have to temper it. There will be alot of scale on the metal from the heat. Use a file to get down to bare metal. Now, lay the blade on the heat source. It will start to turn colors. It actually goes in reverse order of the spectrum, so blue will be first. At this point, the blade is still hard, but has no flexiblity. Watch the color change carefully. What you want the blade to be is a a straw yellow. At that point, maintain it at that color, for about 15 minutes. If it turns red, you went too far, and the blade is now soft. It will have to be re- hardened. After maintaining it for the time, pull it off the heat, and allow it to cool off completely on its own. What you should have is a blade that will maintain an edge, while having flexiblity. What are you doing for a handle?? There are other tricks you can do, like partial blade tempering, but thats a little more advanced
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