Tichbourne
Knives
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ALLOY COMPOSITION OF STEELS
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Updated Thursday, May 13, 2010
| Technical Information All of my knives are made by the stock removal method. What this means is that I purchase 440C surgical stainless steel flat bar, cut it to shape, then grind the bevel and cutting edge. The advantage of this method is that I can use a high quality tool steel which has very predictable properties. The choice of 440C was because of its high chromium content (18%). This very high chrome content makes the steel very resistant to staining in use. Recently I have included Stellite 6K in my production line because it is virtually impervious to corrosion and has superior edge holding capability. The Stellite 6K will be used primarily for special "one of" designs and occasional models that will be added to our line. After grinding the knives are sent to heat treating where they are heat treated in an inert atmosphere oven , then frozen in a cryogenic chamber with liquid nitrogen and finally tempered to my preferred working hardness (Rc 56-58). The heat treating and cryogenic treatment are carried out to convert the free carbon in the steel to carbide centered crystals, carbides if you will, because these are very hard and wear resistant and greatly increase the edge holding ability of any knife. The tempering is necessary because after the heat treating and cryogenic treatment the blades are very hard (Rc 62-63) but they are also very brittle, the tempering is necessary to reduce this brittleness. I have found that a hardness of Rc 56-58 nicely balances the need for good edge holding and almost eliminates the risk of blade breakage. The blades are then mirror polished and the handle is epoxied and pinned in place. Dyed black or mahogany 8-9oz hand stitched, water formed, pouch style leather sheaths are standard for the working/outdoor knives. The bowies come with a snap style sheath embedded with rare earth magnets to keep the knife secure. Custom hand tooling by request. All blades are sharpened to a 17 degree angle and stropped to a razor edge before shipping. For those who would like further information on sharpening I have included a page of instructions on this site. All of my knives come with a full warranty against material and workmanship failures. |
About the Maker
Like many others I began making knives because I couldn't find the type of knife I needed. That was many years ago and since then I have come to love the trade.
Knifemaking allows me to combine my manual skills and my love of the arts to produce hard working knives that are most often described as "works of art" by my customers.
440C Surgical stainless steel is my blade material of choice for making knives of every description from outdoor knives, kitchen knives through to high-end art pieces, some with my own scrimshaw. Recently I have included Stellite 6K a product of Deloro Stellite Ltd. (Belleville, Ont. Canada) in my production line because it is virtually impervious to corrosion and has superior edge holding capability. The Stellite 6K will be used primarily for special "one of" designs. Stainless Stainless Damascus by Damasteel is another product that I have added to my line. The "Random" pattern is my favourite, it's not as busy as many damascus pieces yet gives a wonderful contrast in layers.
For three years I served on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Knifemakers Guild. Although I have retired from the Board I am still an active member.
Since the beginning of time knives have been with us in one form or another. There is nothing "NEW" except the interpretation that each individual maker builds into his own designs. Knifemakers are a talented group of artisans limited only by their imagination and their personal desire to push the envelope.
I trust you will enjoy looking over this site, e-mail me if you have any questions. I will try to get back to you within 24 hours.
As you may have noticed in the technical
section all Tichbourne knives are hardened to Rc 56-58. What this means is that the blade
is as hard as the average metal cutting file so normal knife sharpening techniques are not
always going to bring the edge back to the desired sharpness. Special sharpening tools are
recommended,
This micro bevel is usually angled at 17
degrees to the centre line of the blade because 17 degrees has proven to be durable enough
to resist premature dulling of the edge while offering low resistance during slicing. Not
all cutting tools use this angle however, a straight razor for instance performs best with
a micro bevel of 2 to 5 degrees because cutting resistance is the primary concern here
while an axe will normally have a micro bevel of about 32 degrees, cutting resistance is
not as critical as edge holding in this application. Now that we know that a micro bevel
exists on every knife let's look at how to maintain it.
When I’m sharpening I place the bench stone on a
flat surface and then place the blade on it, elevated to about a 17 degree above the
surface. (Fig 3)