Stainless steel knife blades are considered a compromise by some knife making or blade smith enthusiasts. Knife making is a pastime which may be experienced by old and young. Constructing a new homemade knife can be a very creative as well as enjoyable undertaking. A handmade knife may be readily crafted from an existing hand saw, as well as an old circular saw blade. The tempered steel will make an exceptional old-fashioned knife. This circular saw blade is usually a tool steel with a considerable carbon content. Custom-made knives made with high carbon steel are, usually, a lot easier to maintain an extremely sharp edge.

Just imagine creating, using your very own hands, a whole new kitchen knife that’s so razor-sharp you could possibly cut the tomato slices “too” thin. You just need to have your own hard work, sweat, tears, and perhaps a bit of blood.

Making a fine handmade knife can be quite a work of patience. It truly is both an art and also a science. An excellent knife is lots of hard work, dedication to finely-detailed workmanship, and necessitates a person to be familiar with the science of metallurgy, and also the skill of blacksmithing and design.

And so, precisely why not stainless steel alloys? Stainless steel may very well be a wise decision! There are many stainless alloys with distinct properties which could improve a custom made knife. The most significant reason a growing number of custom knife makers are starting to consider a stainless alloy, is most likely the well-known problem of rust.

Stainless steel is described as such if it’s got greater than 13% chromium. However, the ASM Metals Handbook says that it only has to be above 10%. This difference is likely a reference to “free” or accessible chromium.

Carbon and stainless steels can be equally acceptable if properly alloyed. The high carbon steels are often the steels which are forged. They may be differentially tempered. This property supplies the knife maker additional choices. He is able to far better manage the hardness of the cutting edge, plus still have a very tough knife that has a springy back.

However… having stated this, give consideration to some of the more well-known stainless alloys. The 440 series, especially 440C, and also the Japanese ATS-34 stainless alloy. In addition, stainless alloys which have a high vanadium content will be more wear resistant and hold an edge better, however they are often more difficult to work.

Knives, for an accomplished knife maker require anywhere from a few hours for a smaller utility knife to a lot of months for other, far more intricate knives. They are an investment and may last a lifetime. Custom knives in many cases are set apart by the distinct materials chosen.

Knives have constantly existed in one type or another. As you grasp the handle of the perfect knife, the aim is to have that knife function as an extension of your arm.

There’s possibly been at the least as many knives created by individual knife makers, doing work alone, down throughout history, as have already been produced by all the production factories now creating knives.

Frequent sharpening and maintenance of a knife will certainly continue it looking good, working well and increase its life. No matter whether stainless, or high carbon, or something in between, making a custom made knife is surely an incredibly rewarding endeavor.

For custom cut knife blade blanks as well as blade profile cutting, contact Dennis Darger at  Wet Jet Precision at www.my-waterjet-cutting-service.com, or call (888) 707-5077. Golf Putting Like A Professional

Barrel break-in, the truth.

Is there such a thing as barrel break-in? What is barrel break-in? How much do I clean my barrel and with what? All of these are questions that I’m sure you have asked if you’re a serious rifleman, I know I did. The problem is the amount of different answers I got from all of the guys at the range. Now I’m not taking anything away from anyone at my home range. There’s a lot of knowledge and experience there, but there is a lot of personal opinions that get passed along too. Kinda like the “Ford/Chevy” argument.

I decided to get to the bottom of the whole barrel break-in story. Over a couple of years and many hours of conversation with the worlds top rifle barrel manufactures I got my answer. I’m sorry to say it’s not a simple one, as a matter of fact it’s a very complicated answer that depends on the barrel you own. To get right to it, I’ll quote Mr. Shilen, “Either you have a quality barrel or you don’t”. What I found out is that barrel break-in keeps the barrel makers in business because it can ruin a barrel if not done properly (very few shooters do it right).

First I’ll tell you what a lot of shooters are told to do to break in a barrel and then I’ll let you in on the research I’ve done. I’m sure this will sound familiar to most of you and you might get a little upset with what you read here.

This process was taken from a sub-standard barrel maker’s recommendations of barrel break-in.

1. Run a solvent patch through the barrel a minimum of 5 times.
2. Run an oil patch through the barrel a minimum of 5 times
3. Run a dry patch through the barrel until bore is dry.
4. Shoot 1 round and repeat step #1as many times as it takes to get a clean patch, then repeat steps 2 and 3. Do this for 20 shots
5. Shoot 5 rounds and repeat step 4. do this 20 times

Now if you’re above a 1st grade math level you can see that you’ve just shot 120 times at the range and spent most of the day just to get ready to shoot at a target or go hunting. I was suspect of all of this shooting and that’s why I started digging for the facts. I not only found that this process is not correct, but it will damage you barrel! That’s right, it will damage you barrel. I refer to the Shilen quote here. What you’re doing by breaking-in a barrel is called burnishing. You’re putting a layer of protective fouling in the barrel. I know protective fouling sounds like Army Intelligence but there is proven facts from metallurgist backing me up on this.

The quality barrel maker will hand lap the barrel and this takes out all of the tiny burs in the bore that happen during the manufacturing process. They will then burnish the bore with their secret sauce. You get a great barrel with a bore that’s smooth as glass and ready for you to take to the range to put that protective fouling layer in it.  I’ll explain this true break-in process for a quality barrel.
1. Shoot 20 rounds nice and slow not allowing the bore to heat up too much (shoot for groups).
2. Clean your rifle with non-ammonia based cleaner being careful not to take it down to the bare metal.
3. Done, shoot and clean like you regularly do.

Sounds too simple don’t it. I know it did for me, I guess that’s why it took so long to do the research. I kept asking the same questions much like a police detective trying to catch someone in a lie. I asked so many questions to so many manufactures that I over heard one guy call out the name of the person I asked to talk to and say “it’s the barrel break-in guy again, you here?”. I did get to talk to the ballistics expert I asked for, but I tried to keep it short this time. What I wanted to get out of the last round of calls was what do we do if we have bought a factory rifle with a factory barrel? I knew that the same care was not taken with a barrel on a rifle that I spent $600.00 total for. Never the less a scope/rifle combo that is so popular at China-mart. These barrels do not get the hand lapping to remove all of the tiny burs from the manufacturing process; they can’t if the price is going to stay affordable to the masses.

I found that barrel break-in as a whole (at the most basic form) is the process of smoothing and burnishing the bore of a barrel. What does this mean to the regular hunter or shooter? What do we need to do with the rifle that we just picked up at the gun store? How do we make sure that our children will get a good shooting rifle when our time is done here? This is where it all gets complicated. There is no such thing as a 5 step process that will take care of all rifles. Not all rifle companies make their own barrels or get their barrels from the same place so the amount of “problems” are not the same. This obviously means that the break-in process will be different. After much discussion on this with the major barrel manufactures, who are not very willing to tell me how to take care of a barrel that they didn’t make. I have come up with a process that is simple and I feel is the best case for the masses. Keep in mind; this only applies to the “off the shelf” rifle.

1. Clean the rifle with non ammonia based solvent. This is because most barrels have the tool coolant, oil, and tiny metal shards from the manufacturing process left in the bore. This is a simple process that should include around 4-5 passes with a solvent patch, 1 pass with the oil patch and a couple passes with the dry patch.
2. Shoot 20 rounds with NON moly bullets and repeat step #1. Go ahead and shoot for groups, have fun and don’t let the barrel get too hot. This step should not feel like your breaking-in a barrel, just a day at the range.
3. Done!
After you have completed the “catch all” break-in process, you can shoot until you see the groups getting larger in your rifle. In some rifles this is up to 80 rounds down the tube. I have personally shot my rifles this much during a match with no problems and no damage.
I hope I’ve helped some and spurred others on to do more research. If you would like to read more on the products that the barrel Gurus recommend and better yet the products that will void your warranty stay tuned. You can also get helpful tips on how to better care for your firearms, how to get better groups at the range and how to be better prepared in case of a disaster (“man made” or not) in email form once a month. Just sign in and we’ll to the work for you.

Don Garmon
The Shooting Bench
www.TheShootingBench.com