Heard a guy at the scrap yard say he never tempers his blades

I was at the scrap yard last Tuesday picking through some old leaf springs for future projects and I overheard this older guy bragging to his buddy about how he never tempers his knives after quenching. He said he just hardens them and grinds them straight to a razor edge. I had to bite my tongue because my first thought was that blade is gonna shatter on the first hard use. But then I started thinking about it more and realized there are some people out there who just do things totally different and get away with it for years. Maybe he only makes letter openers or something. But still it made me wonder how many of us actually test our own assumptions instead of just following what the old timers taught us. Has anyone else ever run into a smith who swears by some weird shortcut that goes against everything we learn in the shop?

2 comments

2 Comments

shah.olivia26d ago

Jeez, that's wild. I actually read somewhere that some Japanese knife makers skip tempering too, but they're doing super thin kitchen knives not choppers. Bet that guy's leaf spring blade chips like crazy if he ever hits a bone or tries to pry something. I tried skipping temper once on a small skinner just to see what would happen, chipped on the second deer I field dressed. Learned my lesson real fast.

bailey.sam26d ago

Hear me out though, Japanese chef knives work because of their extreme thinness and specific use, not despite skipping tempering. That leaf spring chopper guy is just asking for trouble at that thickness.