A question for all you steel beaters

M

miden

Joined
Sep 9, 2005
Messages
835
I have been a member of this forum for a few weeks now. Something I have noticed is there are a lot of guys who are very passionate about forging and you all seem to do it darned well.
Tell me please, the finished blades that you gents show, are they completed totally by bashing or is the final work done with files or grinders. Being a stock removal fellow myself I cannot comprehend that the average level of excellence I see here can be achieved with just a hammer and an anvil.

I just take the axe head that Mark Williams was holding with tongs clamped between his legs a couple of weeks ago (one wrong hit and there would have been instant mumps!).
Do you actually forge the hole for the handle??
Pray tell gentlemen. :confused:

Mike
 
An axe head can be punched for a hole for a handle or you can make an axe by folding strip over a mandril. ..They forge to very close to final dimensions then clean up with abrasives .
 
I do both methods for tomahawk handles, both punched and wrapped/forge welded.

As Mete has said, most forge as close to final demensions as possible to avoid having to do a lot of grinding.
 
thanks, so you do at least have to do some grinding etc.
This may sound like a really stupid question but all I know about forging is what I have seen in movies when a blacksmith made a horseshoe.
What about really well defined lines like where the blade ends before the guard. Can you whack that line very accurately? :o

Mike
 
miden said:
. Can you whack that line very accurately? :o
Click to expand...
Some can.......... I can't.........You get better at "Whack'n" with practice. At my age, I am pretty good at "Whack'n". I just hope to be able to do it well on knives some day. :eek: :eek:

Dang... Did I say that? ;)
 
A really good bladesmith is gonn'a need to be a really good grinder.

Almost all of us who forge, got started with only stock removal.

I still do both, but I enjoy starting off with a hot piece of steel, hammer, and anvil.

I'm gonna disagree with Mark though... many guys that I've seen forge do not forge all that close to shape. I've seen quite a few that whack the tip a few times and call it forged to shape. I'd call it more of a tongue drepressor, but then again, I am quite the $hit head. :)

The way I figure it, why go to all the trouble of forging, if you're not going to forge the darn thing. So I always try to forge very close to templates I make, or just to a general shape if I'm not working on an order.

-Nick-
http://www.wheelerknives.com
 
What's a grinder?
More you do right with a hammer the less you have to dress with a file and paper.
 
dunno, I've done it both ways, my only grinder for 5 years was a file, didn't make many knives in those days... :)

Really depends on the look and feel you're going for.

Tony
 
do you ever find that you have voids or holes that appear when you start grinding? :eek:
 
OK, this is what I have found. This is only my own experience so take it for what it's worth.

When I grind a blade after it has been forged, it shows me where the mistakes are that I made while forging. I have learned to forge better this way.

Stock removal doesn't do this for you, or rather, for me.

Craig
 
Thanks for all the replies and info guys. Much appreciated. A bit less of a mystery now but still very impressive. I hope to join you someday Yes, I know, it is a lot more complicated than you have made it sound and I do not underestimate your craft. Thanks again. :thumbup:

Mike
 
Roosko said:
Some can.......... I can't.........You get better at "Whack'n" with practice. At my age, I am pretty good at "Whack'n". I just hope to be able to do it well on knives some day. :eek: :eek:

Dang... Did I say that? ;)
Click to expand...
Oh, my.... :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

If one uses a VERY good, smooth anvil and keeps his top-grade hammer faces well-polished and pounds-out many tons of steel, he can get closer to having finished knives and swords every time.

That said, in my years I've never seen a bladesmith who does no final grinding, buffing or polishing, no. Not once. Even Bill Moran uses grinders and buffers.
 
C L Wilkins said:
When I grind a blade after it has been forged, it shows me where the mistakes are that I made while forging. I have learned to forge better this way.
Craig
Click to expand...

Craigs exactly right. I learn with each blade I forge. I just wish I could learn more about working the ricasso area. That one always gets me. Also I've learned to work on the final thickness of the tang, and to try and take all the bows out, although some of them form during normalizing, annealing , or HT.
 
miden said:
I have been a member of this forum for a few weeks now. Something I have noticed is there are a lot of guys who are very passionate about forging and you all seem to do it darned well.
Tell me please, the finished blades that you gents show, are they completed totally by bashing or is the final work done with files or grinders. Being a stock removal fellow myself I cannot comprehend that the average level of excellence I see here can be achieved with just a hammer and an anvil.

I just take the axe head that Mark Williams was holding with tongs clamped between his legs a couple of weeks ago (one wrong hit and there would have been instant mumps!).
Do you actually forge the hole for the handle??
Pray tell gentlemen. :confused:

Mike
Click to expand...

i don't know any that bash steel..i do know many that use hammer control and hit steel where they want to hit..it does take practice thou..

there are two ways to do a eye hole...one is hot punch it thru or forge weld a wrapped band around a piece of steel the size hole you want.

chele mtn city tn
 
"bash" was just a figure of speech, black dragon forge.
I know your craft is everything BUT random bashing ;)

Mike
 
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