I looked for the answer, but google was not much help.
I just replaced the blade in my japanese saw and want to use the old blade for making a few kitchen knives (nothing fancy, just want to give it a try). I'm really impressed with these saw blades and I think they would make fine knives. The blade is a 250mm Bakuma from Woodcraft ($8.50). The metal is too hard for a file to cut and the little dremel cut-off wheels disappear quickly. The website says that the steel is "impulse hardened" to RC63. The blade is about .020 thick so it is about right for a paring knife or maybe a steak knife, it is flexible enough to make a nice fillet knife.
I would like to cut the knife blade profile without annealing the steel (to preserve the current temper). I'm not sure how to do this - the cut-off wheels are slow and I'm not very accurate cutting with them, plus it would "eat a lot of wheels". If I anneal the steel, I'm not sure I can properly harden and temper the knife blades.
Anyone have some guidance?
Thanks
Bruce