The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need. |
04-02-2018, 05:20 AM
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Steel Addict
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Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Roswell, Georgia
Posts: 133
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I'm making a return
I haven't been here in a few years, I got to work with my gear for a few weeks before life went off the rails and it had to be packed up. I'm in the process of taking everything out of mothballs and getting my permanent workshop set up in my garage. Hopefully I'll have some interesting stuff to share, I'm currently taking some lessons in the basics from a bladesmith about an hour away to help me avoid wasting a lot of materials. So far we've hammered out the best looking rough shape I've ever put my hands on and I hope it translates to pieces that are close in quality when I'm working unsupervised. I logged in today to look for the next Hammer-In, bad timing. At least my credentials here were still saved on my phone. And I attached what we've made so far. Today I drive back out for more hammer work which I hope gets my Chinesium Harbor Freight hammers dressed for proper forge work and we have some heat treating to do if memory serves me correctly. Maybe this lesson in patience will help me as well, I'm used to finishing projects the day I start them.
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04-02-2018, 08:26 AM
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Founding Member / Moderator
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Wauconda, WA
Posts: 9,840
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Welcome back Allan! Yes, slow down a little. Take time to get the details right. That's the difference in a good knife and a great one ...
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04-02-2018, 12:17 PM
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Hall of Famer
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Decatur, IL
Posts: 2,612
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Wish that I could see it 3D but it looks good so far. It will come back to you.
Doug
__________________
If you're not making mistakes then you're not trying hard enough
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04-03-2018, 08:38 PM
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Steel Addict
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Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Roswell, Georgia
Posts: 133
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Update, I went back for another day of learning. We finished the hammering and I learned that my pure Chinesium hammers from Harbor Freight will take care of me just fine until I make my own. We did thermal cycling to reduce grain size and I spent a bit over 2 hours in front of a 2x72 belt grinder getting one side of the tang right. I managed to get it flat to within 2 10ths of an inch at the worst low spot on the other side if that makes sense. Did that yesterday, I go back next week. I spent all day today working on clearing out half the garage to get my own forge set up in a permanent place after waiting about 4 years for it.
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04-03-2018, 09:02 PM
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Founding Member / Moderator
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Wauconda, WA
Posts: 9,840
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Two hours working on one side of the tang. Ouch. You'll get faster with practice no doubt.
Of course, I can't resist the urge to mention that if you were making that blade by stock removal from a nice piece of blade steel the tang would be smooth and flat as soon as you cut it out....
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04-04-2018, 02:28 AM
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Steel Addict
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Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Roswell, Georgia
Posts: 133
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You are correct, I have done some stock removal from 1080 flat and it was much easier and let me reach a more refined result. Currently working with fire and hammer gives me more back and it's also easier to afford raw material. I hope one day to be able to seamlessly move between the two as my approach can be summed up by saying "Whatever it takes to get the necessary result is fair game".
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04-04-2018, 06:53 AM
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Guru
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: ny
Posts: 1,438
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when i started i forged a couple knives then went to stock removal.... so anyway when i first did a couple knives by forging when i was brand new to this....i spent a bunch of time making the tang perfectly flat the whole way through after i did one side and got to the other i realized i wasted a bunch of time on the first side the tang just has to be flat around the edges and any HIGH spots so the handle material will sit flat when pinned and glued on those low spots and hammer marks in the middle of the tang don't need to be ground as it is not going to effect how the handle material sits and no one will ever see it (unless the rip off the handle material) and also if you keep grinding the tang down to get out those low spots you just making the tang thinner and weaker,,,,,,not sure if this is what you ment by low spots....this seems obvious to me now but it was a brain fart moment when i realized this ....MIND BLOWN LOL Oh also as ray said yes you will get quicker that 2 hours eventually will turn into about 3 minutes once you learn how to hold it where to put pressure what belts to use and most importanmtly confidence as you get more confidence in your grinding you will start to go much much quicker
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04-04-2018, 09:37 AM
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Steel Addict
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Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Roswell, Georgia
Posts: 133
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The lowest spots on both sides are at the very end of the tang, possibly from hot cutting the blade from the source bar. Normally I'd hide all sorts of bullpies in the tang because scales cover many sins but it couldn't be done with this blade. Also since I'm donating steel, scales and money to someone that knows WAY more than I do to teach me something I'm going to follow directions.
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Tags
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2x72, a, art, back, bee, belt, blade, bladesmith, ca, flat, forge, forging, grinder, hammer, heat, heat treating, interesting, knife, made, make, making, materials, steel, tang, workshop |
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