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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #16  
Old 08-22-2015, 01:42 PM
dtec1 dtec1 is offline
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Thank you ray i appreciate the help. you did touch on something talking about mild steel from harware stores.... now what the deal with that...when i went to make my first ever knife i did not do much research and that is what i did i got a piece from home depot if i remember right it was 1011. now i was told that it absolutly could not be made into a knife that it is too soft to get a edge. now at this point i already had it cut to shape (not grinded yet) but i was thinking that while i wait for more legit steel to come in mail that i could play with that and see what hapends you said for most cutting chores that would seem like a decent blade so can it be made into a blade at all or it just doesnt hold a edge good?
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  #17  
Old 08-22-2015, 02:07 PM
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It won't hold a good edge and it will bend easily and stay bent. Some Indians I read about used to rub a piece of tree bark on a rock to create an edge which they then used to dress a deer they had killed. Almost anything can take an edge of some kind and do some type of useful cutting but that type of knife falls far short of what we are trying to make.

The heat treatment is 95% of what makes the knife, the edge geometry and handle ergonomics makes up the rest. Other makers might want to fudge my percentages around but I'm trying to make a point that HT is where the performance of the blade is mostly decided. Heat treatment only works on steels that have the proper type of chemical makeup, which primarily means the steel has the right amount of carbon in it and nothing else that might interfere. Mild steel from the hardware store has very little carbon and won't harden significantly but you can still make a blade from it. You can make a blade from a chunk of tin roofing material and it will cut meat like crazy - some medieval battle axes were little more than that . This is what I was referring to earlier when I said that whether or not what you achieved with those files was a knife or not depended largely on our agreement as to what a knife actually is in terms of its performance characteristics ...


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  #18  
Old 08-22-2015, 04:59 PM
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Lil off topic question but....i plan on ordering some steel either tonight or tomorow. I was going to get either 1084 or 1080 depending on price and availibility. i am going to get flat steel bar probily around 1/4 in thick by 1.5 or 2 in long. also i think i might get a piece of square rod and play around with that and a anvil and try to flatten it out. i know most people would say just stick to the flat bar since i am a beginer but this is purely to experiment and see how things go....my question is... is there any chart or info of hmm how to explain this... ok say i had a a 1in by 1in by 6in and i flatened it to a 1/4 in thick how long and wide would it come out to. Get it if i wanted to turn it into say 1/4in thick by 2 in by 6in how big of a square bar would i need to start with i hope you guys get what iam asking any advice
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  #19  
Old 08-22-2015, 05:04 PM
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oh THANKS for advice on home depot steel....maybe something to kill time with and practice techniques but no good for actual use
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  #20  
Old 08-22-2015, 05:59 PM
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There is no chart that I know of for what you want but the solution is simple. The act of hammering out a piece of steel does not cause you to lose any appreciable amount of it so how ever many cubic inches you start with is pretty much what you will have in whatever shape you make.

In other words, 1x1x6 is 6 cubic inches. At 1/4" thick you could have 1/4x1x24" or 1/4x2x12 or any other shape that results in 6 cubic inches ....


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  #21  
Old 08-22-2015, 07:07 PM
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ok thank you thats exactly what i was wondering if you either loose soome or it some how get compressed to end up at less volume thanks again
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  #22  
Old 08-22-2015, 07:26 PM
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Work the steel long enough and you will lose some but for the purposes of the question you asked, just the basic reshaping of a bar of steel, that simple calculation will be accurate enough...


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  #23  
Old 08-23-2015, 05:17 AM
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ok thanks i am going to try and put every ones advice to practice
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  #24  
Old 08-24-2015, 06:23 AM
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dtec1
Simple way to figure what you can do with any dimension of steel at the forge with fire and hammer:
Get some modeling clay (like what kids play with). Shape it to the dimensions of your piece of steel in question, then mash it out to the dimensions you intend to finish.
Same principles different media. After you have forged awhile you will be able to look at a piece of steel and mentally see what can be done without measuring or modeling. Your mind is the best computer you will ever have!
As Ray said your carbon loss on the surface is minimal.....if you pay attention to your forging heats - too much heat can cause problems with decarb.

Where are you located? There are most likely bladesmiths and blacksmiths within short driving distance if you just take the time to search them out. Hands on learning far out weighs what you can get on here or out of books.


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  #25  
Old 08-24-2015, 10:29 AM
dtec1 dtec1 is offline
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Crex,....great tip! i would of never thought of that. I live in NY not in the city tho i am about 50 mins north of mannhatan or 35 mins north of the bronx. its in "putnam county" next county up after "westchester". i did check the post titled "visit a knife maker in your area" didnt see anyone so i put up a post with my location but no answers yet.
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  #26  
Old 08-25-2015, 05:55 AM
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I've got a good friend up in Cumberland, RI that makes a few knives, but he knows most of the serious makers in the NE. I will drop him an email and see if he knows someone relatively close.
He's more a buy/sell guy than maker so he attends almost every knife show on the East Coast.

That's also something you might consider - attend a few local knife shows and seek out makers, just talk to them. Some might live closer than you think.


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  #27  
Old 08-25-2015, 02:14 PM
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nice crex thanks let me know if ya find anyone
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