As the title may have led you to believe I have started on a new blade. I refer to it as a recurve bowie, because its a recurve, and it is bowie-esque. If there is a more technical/specific term I would love to hear it. I started forging my own blades about a year and a half ago and I have been getting the hang of it for the most part, however, I know I have much to learn and there is no substitute for practice. I hope that this thread helps someone who is beginning to forge blades, just as the threads here helped me when I first started. I skipped the photography of some of the steps but I will try to explain the steps I took as well as I can.
I started with a 1/4"x2"x12 inch piece of 5061 welded onto a rebar handle. I dont have any tongs that are near as secure. I started by drawing out the blade, and handle, for length. I left about an inch between the areas I knocked down (as seen in the picture below). The protrusion left will later be forged into a finger guard.
Once I had the blade portion of the stock forged down to the width of the ricasso, and the handle portion forged most of the way, it was time to start on the finger guard. I do it in this order so I'm not messing up my freshly hammered bevels trying to get that finger guard to work. forging out the finger guard is the part I found the most tricky. The only vice I have right now is a pedal operated spring clamp that is attached to my anvil stand. Handy for a lot of things, especially with the easy to operate jaws, but it doesn't have a whole lot of grip strength. I ended up clamping the blade of the hot piece in the vice and having someone hold the handle for security whilst whaling on it with the cross peen of my hammer, using another hammer as a backplate. For those who can't visualize this, just imagine the most inefficient way to draw out a finger guard, and that's about it. It took many heats but it got there. If I do many more finger guards like this a solid leg vice I can do some hammering on would be a worthwhile investment.
From there I hammered out the bevels and the false edge. I had to put much more of a curve on the blade initially than I normally would if I were drawing out bevels for a straight edged blade. I also learned to use the fat part of the anvil horn to maintain good contact while forging the inside curve of the knife. That way I didn't have a whole bunch of corner marks from the edge of the flat face.
Here it is after a little profile work on the grinder. Blade length is around 9.5", about 16" overall. The handle I shaped using grinders, I could have forged it, but I had already wasted enough propane drawing out that finger guard.
I will post more steps as I complete them. In the mean time I would love to hear what you all think, questions, comments, and critique are all welcome here.
Thanks for taking the time to look,
Trogdorr
I started with a 1/4"x2"x12 inch piece of 5061 welded onto a rebar handle. I dont have any tongs that are near as secure. I started by drawing out the blade, and handle, for length. I left about an inch between the areas I knocked down (as seen in the picture below). The protrusion left will later be forged into a finger guard.
Once I had the blade portion of the stock forged down to the width of the ricasso, and the handle portion forged most of the way, it was time to start on the finger guard. I do it in this order so I'm not messing up my freshly hammered bevels trying to get that finger guard to work. forging out the finger guard is the part I found the most tricky. The only vice I have right now is a pedal operated spring clamp that is attached to my anvil stand. Handy for a lot of things, especially with the easy to operate jaws, but it doesn't have a whole lot of grip strength. I ended up clamping the blade of the hot piece in the vice and having someone hold the handle for security whilst whaling on it with the cross peen of my hammer, using another hammer as a backplate. For those who can't visualize this, just imagine the most inefficient way to draw out a finger guard, and that's about it. It took many heats but it got there. If I do many more finger guards like this a solid leg vice I can do some hammering on would be a worthwhile investment.
From there I hammered out the bevels and the false edge. I had to put much more of a curve on the blade initially than I normally would if I were drawing out bevels for a straight edged blade. I also learned to use the fat part of the anvil horn to maintain good contact while forging the inside curve of the knife. That way I didn't have a whole bunch of corner marks from the edge of the flat face.
Here it is after a little profile work on the grinder. Blade length is around 9.5", about 16" overall. The handle I shaped using grinders, I could have forged it, but I had already wasted enough propane drawing out that finger guard.
I will post more steps as I complete them. In the mean time I would love to hear what you all think, questions, comments, and critique are all welcome here.
Thanks for taking the time to look,
Trogdorr
