# Kurouchi Wa-Gyuto 180mm



## Kippington (Apr 28, 2017)

My latest and greatest!







1084 steel hand forged and heat-treated in my charcoal forge.

I set myself the challenge of making a kurouchi knife with a clean shinogi line and this is the result. It's damn hard to do without any jigs on my crappy little belt grinder.
Only this one little spot worked out really well.






The rest of it was a bit wonky because the crisp shinogi relied too much on the flatness of the 'flats'. I couldn't grind out much more of my hammer marks from the sides without getting the blade too thin before the quench. If I had grinded after the quench I would've lost the KU finish.
I think this part would've been much easier with a spring hammer to help even out the high and low spots. Instead though, I'm looking to perhaps forge a little thicker and buy a grinder with a surface flatter attachment.






Post-quench I ground the knife 70:30 for a right hand bias.

This is only 180mm long (and 52mm tall at spine). I really want to make longer knives (240mm) but this is the best I can manage with my current heat-treating setup. On top of the grinder, I'm also looking to buy a heat-treating oven. Damn this hobby is expensive...

Time to go and test this baby out in the kitchen!


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## Badgertooth (Apr 28, 2017)

My man!! Looks awesome.. now go slap it on some of Marek's stones and cut something


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## dwalker (Apr 28, 2017)

You may not have accomplished exactly what you set out to but you certianly made a handsome knife.


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## Marek07 (Apr 28, 2017)

Looks pretty damn good!


Badgertooth said:


> My man!! Looks awesome.. now go slap it on some of Marek's stones and cut something


Of course he's welcome to use any/all of my stones. However, he's pretty hot with his Shaptons.


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## Mute-on (Apr 28, 2017)

That looks bloody amazing! Great job. 

Very nice profile, and the grind looks very decent too. Plenty of thickness to tweak the grind should you so choose. 

Cheers

J


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## jessf (Apr 28, 2017)

Really awesome. I like wonky lines but i get the desire to make them crisp. Seems a shame to hand forge something then grind away all those brush strokes.


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## Nemo (Apr 28, 2017)

Looks bloody good to me Kipp.

Was the HT by eye?

Do you know how hard it is?

IIRC, 1084 is in many ways ideal for a low alloyed knife steel because it has the best combination of hard martensite and minimal retained austentite when cooled to room temp?

How does it grind & sharpen?

Great work.


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## milkbaby (Apr 28, 2017)

I dig it! Nice job! :doublethumbsup:


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## Kippington (Apr 29, 2017)

Thanks fellas!

Nemo yes the HT was done by eye from charcoal into water then to oil. I could shape a whole longsword one section at a time in my little forge, however it isn't big enough to uniformly heat anything larger then 180mm for any kind of heat-treatment. I use the same forge fire-pot as the smith in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeC9bNxQ2Zs&feature=youtu.be&t=4m31s

I have no idea how hard the knife is because I haven't got the proper tools to find out - namely a Rockwell hardness tester. The best I can do is skate a file over the surface, which is easy enough to achieve but doesn't give an overall picture of whats going on in there.

I'm hella hard on my knife testing though! This bad boy was battoned on the spine through thick wood before it cracked, in a very satisfying way I might add! Fine grain and a smooth break. Thinner then the knife above as well.






1084 is a close to the eutectoid and very similar in composition to Hitachi Shirogami #3

It has bugger all carbides in the finished product (assuming it was heat treated correctly) and as a result it takes a super keen edge but doesn't hold it for long. I'm kinda spoiled with my powdered steels so the edge retention on this doesn't impress. On the bright side, sharpening this steel is stupid fast and it gets an insanely sharp edge in no-time.
If I get a heat-treating oven I can jump into more exotic steels (and longer knives!). Until then simple carbon steels will have to do me for now.

jessf maybe I should start forging more hammer marked knives. The aesthetics don't click with me personally but I know a lot of people like them. Creating one saves a bit of time too!


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## jessf (Apr 29, 2017)

Kippington said:


> Thanks fellas!
> 
> jessf maybe I should start forging more hammer marked knives. The aesthetics don't click with me personally but I know a lot of people like them. Creating one saves a bit of time too!



With consistent hammer blows I'm sure you're right. In my limited experience I've found it's easier for me to grind things flat and even with distal taper than it has been to hammer things flat and even with distal taper then to grind the bevels without loosing those features. 

Like drawing with a pen vs a pencil I've found.


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