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Ed Caffrey's Workshop Talk to Ed Caffrey ... The Montana Bladesmith! Tips, tricks and more from an ABS Mastersmith.

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  #1  
Old 03-18-2005, 09:26 AM
cedar_fluteman cedar_fluteman is offline
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best first project?

Well I am brand new to forging and I would like some ideas of what would be a good starting point. A project something that would be less likely to screw up. Also Ed does your new video show all the basic stuff and take a project from start to finish? Maybe this is where I sould start? It's always better for me to see something done than reading about it. Is the cable knife a hard project? I am somewhat attracted to that idea.
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Old 03-18-2005, 12:16 PM
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Ed Caffrey Ed Caffrey is offline
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The video is all about forging, so you won't see any blade grinding going on. However, It does include forging, the thermal cycling, and how to harden a blade, as well as many tips and tricks to make things easier on yourself.

If you've not yet done so, the first thing to do is to learn how the hammer moves the material. When I have brand new students in the shop for a class, their first exercise is to take a piece of 1/2" round stock, and make it square, then back to round, then back to square. A few times of doing this exercise will teach you how to maniputlate the hammer to make the steel move the way you want it to.

If your past that point, I would recommend starting out with learning the steps required to forge a plain steel blade. Something like O-1 or 5160 is good to start with. Both are fairly easy to forge, and are forgiving if you make errors during the thermal cycling/heat treating. Cable will require that you know how to forge weld, so if you've not accompishd that yet, you might want to hold off.

Let the first knife or two be what they want to be....pay close attention to what your doing, and notice the reactions of the material when you strike it different ways. You'll quickly surmise by hitting the steel a certain way, that a certain reaction is obtained. That's the whole key to it.........knowing how to make it go where you want it to.


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Last edited by Ed Caffrey; 03-18-2005 at 02:53 PM.
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Old 03-18-2005, 12:42 PM
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Another really good medium to practice on are rail road spikes. They are generally in abundance around rail road tracks. So free material is always good. (Just don't get caught, You actually can get in trouble for picking up garbage spikes) Plus if you screw one up, just toss it! No biggie!

Ed's recomendation for forging round stock to square, then round again is also really good practice.

Oh, and be ready for your arms to be sore!!

Chris Nilluka
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Old 03-18-2005, 01:02 PM
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Ed's DVD is worth the price!


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Old 03-18-2005, 05:56 PM
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Cedar, you'll love the tape. Probably watch it several times even. I've been hammering on hot stuff since 1988 or so, and I really enjoyed the tape and learned a lot. Pretty inexpensive also compared to the expert instruction you'll receive. Chris is right also, spikes are great practice, I like the little devils.


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Old 03-19-2005, 08:18 AM
cedar_fluteman cedar_fluteman is offline
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Thanks for the advice. I think I will start beating on some metal real soon. I will be doing this out doors and the weather in Ohio is headed towards milder temps. I have a forge but only a piece of railroad iron for an anvil for now. But that should be good enough to get the feel of it. I'll be keeping my eyes open for an anvil.

Thanks again,

Ed is there a better place to purchase your video as far as your concerned?
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Old 03-19-2005, 09:23 AM
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Ed Caffrey Ed Caffrey is offline
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You can purchase a copy of the video for either myself or CCinstructionalvideos.com. It will be $40 from either (which includes shipping). If you must use a credit card, you'll have to go through CC Instructional, if you want to send me a check or Money order, I will have it out to you priority mail the next morning. You can find my mailing address on my website, under "Contact Information".

Also, as you get into forging, don't hesitate to let folks here on the forums know if we can be of assistance........my email and phone are always open too!


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