Soft tang but hardened blade..?

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Mar 10, 2004
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I was messing around with a funky old butcher styled knife, taking remains of the scales off, and it appears that the tang is just soft but the blade portion was hardened.
It's just an old unmarked knife so I'm wondering if this was a standard thing for the cheaper of the cheap old knives?
I'm thinking that older knives I've encountered in the past were heat treated full length. But now I'm not so sure...? :confused:
 
It wasn’t unheard of to heat treat knives by hanging them from the tang and heating them in a bath of molten lead. Thats before we learned how bad of an idea that was. It would however explain a hardened blade and soft handle.
 
Can't see a reason why you would want a hard tang. Hardening steel makes it brittle. So, do you plan to sharpen your tang? There can be a lot of stress right at the ricasso, having a softer steel may prevent the blade from snapping.
 
For some thinner blades in the 0.05” range, leaving the tang completely soft can allow the blade to bend just in front of the handle with any accidental torquing or lateral force.
 
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