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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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  #1  
Old 02-21-2015, 06:37 PM
AllanBeasley AllanBeasley is offline
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Newest piece of work.

So this was a bit of a run on the new forge. Started off with a piece of leaf spring (Left the hole) and went to work. Managed to squish the handle out instead of just cutting it down, and wound up massaging it A LOT to get the tang flat enough for scales. Grinding was going too slow so I just embellished the textured finish instead. Got it yellow-hot and dropped it in to quench and did the scales with Purple Heart. Took my sweet time and learned how to get a more ergonomic handle (Paid more attention thanks to reccomendations on my last post. I forgot how hard that wood is to sand down. I took it out for a test run, which left the small brown areas on the blade, a noble branch sacrificed itself in the name of progress. REALLY sharp, cuts extremely well, no idea when I'll fnd out just how much abuse it can take.







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Old 02-21-2015, 07:00 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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You definitely should try to find out how much abuse it will take before spending too much more time and materials on the next one. I say that particularly because "yellow hot" is far too hot to quench 5160 or one of its equivalent leaf spring steels. Also, you didn't mention tempering the blade after quenching. If you didn't temper then PLEASE do yourself a favor and torture test that blade ASAP. And wear eye protection when you do it ....


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Old 02-21-2015, 07:22 PM
AllanBeasley AllanBeasley is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray Rogers View Post
You definitely should try to find out how much abuse it will take before spending too much more time and materials on the next one. I say that particularly because "yellow hot" is far too hot to quench 5160 or one of its equivalent leaf spring steels. Also, you didn't mention tempering the blade after quenching. If you didn't temper then PLEASE do yourself a favor and torture test that blade ASAP. And wear eye protection when you do it ....
You know it. It's gonna see a lot of heavy action as an outdoor work blade. I was curious if yellow was too hot, but it was also the first time I saw a forge do that to a blade. It IS NOT going to be sold or given away because of the potential liability.
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Old 02-21-2015, 08:03 PM
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BCROB BCROB is offline
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looks like a work horse well done !!


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  #5  
Old 02-21-2015, 08:16 PM
PoolQs PoolQs is offline
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Have to agree ... love to take out some frustrations with that bad boy
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Old 02-21-2015, 09:23 PM
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Hunter10139 Hunter10139 is offline
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Man I'm a little envious of you. I've been wanting to forge one for a while now.

Like Ray said, test it, and maybe even break it. With no temper (and if it was overheated) I'd imagine the edge is pretty brittle and could be chippy.


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Old 02-21-2015, 09:33 PM
Doug Lester Doug Lester is offline
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Nice early attempt. It looks like you could have worked the bevels a higher up towards the spine with the hammer. That would mean that you would have to adjust the point of the blade back down to prevent having a banana shaped blade. I do that adjustment with a wooden maul. Just get the end of the blade hot and tap it back down to where you want it.

On the tang. Hammer on it from the edge to decrease the width then on the next heat hammer it flat again. That will help prevent the edge from folding over on itself and forming a cold shut.

Doug


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Old 02-21-2015, 10:42 PM
AllanBeasley AllanBeasley is offline
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Originally Posted by Doug Lester View Post
Nice early attempt. It looks like you could have worked the bevels a higher up towards the spine with the hammer. That would mean that you would have to adjust the point of the blade back down to prevent having a banana shaped blade. I do that adjustment with a wooden maul. Just get the end of the blade hot and tap it back down to where you want it.

On the tang. Hammer on it from the edge to decrease the width then on the next heat hammer it flat again. That will help prevent the edge from folding over on itself and forming a cold shut.

Doug
I'd end up needing a hands-on demo for me to be able to fully wrap around that, but I think I got most of that. I can get bevel one side but switching to the weak side for me results in a big mess right now. I'm learning my way through it. I DID work the tang like that, mash it from the top down to compress it, then straighten and draw for length on the next heat. I even used a fuller I made out of a wrecked Hardie Tool I bought for $10 to speed up the mashing process. I'm still in the early stages with a few nights of supervision from master blacksmiths, so really I'm just mauling steel then absolving my sins on a grinder.

Last edited by AllanBeasley; 02-21-2015 at 10:44 PM.
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Old 02-22-2015, 07:09 AM
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DanCom DanCom is offline
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Allan,

I love your enthusiasm!

My only suggestion is that you don't rush. Take your time. You are on the right path and you are asking the right questions. Your desire and curiosity will drive your skills.

It's easy to forget that what we are making could last for generations. In the big picture, an extra few hours today will seem like nothing 50 years from now.
We all tend to rush things, this is a very busy world. Here's some advice that I have found to be useful.

When I am working on a knife, I frequently stop, reflect and ask myself:

- Is this going do what it's intended to do?
- Will it be durable?
- Will it look appealing?

The last question is somewhat subjective, but the first two are critical.

Take your time, learn, practice and keep on making knives, and...
keep on posting!

We're all newbies at something.

:-)


Dan
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Old 02-22-2015, 07:50 AM
AllanBeasley AllanBeasley is offline
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Dan, I ask those same 3 questions, but I tend to focus on keeping the first owner happy. Then again I've never known anyone that keeps anything for generations either.
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Old 02-22-2015, 07:51 AM
jmccustomknives jmccustomknives is offline
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Allen, getting some hands on from an experienced smith is a great idea. It only took me 4 years to figure out that the books I had were completely or partially wrong on forging techniques. One thing that might help is to build a post anvil. Every newb that comes over and see's how it works says the same thing, "I need to get one of those".
See you at Sunday Chat.
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  #12  
Old 02-22-2015, 10:08 AM
AllanBeasley AllanBeasley is offline
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Originally Posted by jmccustomknives View Post
Allen, getting some hands on from an experienced smith is a great idea. It only took me 4 years to figure out that the books I had were completely or partially wrong on forging techniques. One thing that might help is to build a post anvil. Every newb that comes over and see's how it works says the same thing, "I need to get one of those".
See you at Sunday Chat.
Right now I'm working on a 200 pound Peter Wright anvil. The only drawback is the weight. I have to move it down a hill to use it and up a hill when I'm done every time. Something easier to move would be nice.
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Old 02-22-2015, 01:43 PM
Doug Lester Doug Lester is offline
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If you can get Bill Moran's The Making of a Knife it will demonstrate how to heat and hammer your blade to take the cure out of it. I'm pretty sure that it shows working the bevels back with the hammer too. You can find this video at the ABS on-line store. Tim Lively also has a video that I know shows forging the bevels but he preforms his points. It titled Knfemaking Unplugged and can be had at Amazon and possibly some knife making supply stores on-line.

Doug


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