Beginner question on forging

S

Scruffylookingnerfherder

Joined
Jun 15, 2017
Messages
4
Hello, this is my first post, so forgive me if it's in the wrong section. I tend to be rather inept at this sort of thing.

I am a beginner knife maker, mostly using a charcoal forge and hand blower to craft my disasters. Everything usually seems to be going well on a project until I clean up the blade. Whenever I forge a knife, the surface ends up having quite a few pockmarks, and grinding or sanding them out completely, it seems, would leave the blade too thin. I was wondering if this is normal, and if not, any tips and/or techniques to minimize or completely prevent the flaws. Any nuggets of wisdom would forever be appreciated!
Thanks!
 
You can help reduce them by keeping all scale brushed off, starting with nice clean Steel, having a smooth polished anvil face, and a smooth high polished hammer face.
You could also just leave them with the rustic rough forged look which is attractive, and you might also start with a thicker blade before grinding so they don't end up too thin.
 
Leave the knife thicker when forging to allow for the excess to be ground off.

Use lighter hammer blows and a flatter faced hammer as you get toward the finishing stages of the forging.

Leave the marks on the upper bevels - they are called burte-de-forge ( rough from forging).
 
The old saying is forge thick grind thin. But that being said you need to keep the scale brushed off of the blade. I don't have this problem when hand forging becaus it normaly knocks the scale off. I do have to keep on top of it when using the press becaus the scale does not get knocked off and it just builds up.
 
As with most issues, I believe pictures would help. At least help determine if it's scale build up being hammered in or poor hammer control.
What size hammer are you using, what is the condition of the hammer face and anvil ?
 
Make sure your forging hammer face is properly dressed and has no sharp corners or edges. Ive found through my own mistakes that an improperly dressed hammer face can leave deep marks that can be hard to grind out.
 
3fifty7 said:
As with most issues, I believe pictures would help. At least help determine if it's scale build up being hammered in or poor hammer control.
What size hammer are you using, what is the condition of the hammer face and anvil ?
Click to expand...
I am using a 2.5 pound hammer, fairly new, although it might have some sharp corners (can I use a file or angle grinder to shape the hammer?) The anvil is an anvil shaped object, (harbor freight) that has a few dings in it. I had to buy the anvil because it was literally my only option, but I plan on buying a proper anvil soon, maybe the 4x4 stake anvil from old world anvils.
 
TDPurcell said:
Make sure your forging hammer face is properly dressed and has no sharp corners or edges. Ive found through my own mistakes that an improperly dressed hammer face can leave deep marks that can be hard to grind out.
Click to expand...
Is there somewhere that I can find out how to properly dress my hammer face?
 
You can file and sharp corners and sand off any tool marks on the face.
Try forging your next blade and focus on hitting the steel half as hard as you have in the past and keeping the hammer indexed properly so that the hammer face strikes the steel flat every blow.
 
3fifty7 said:
You can file and sharp corners and sand off any tool marks on the face.
Try forging your next blade and focus on hitting the steel half as hard as you have in the past and keeping the hammer indexed properly so that the hammer face strikes the steel flat every blow.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tips!
 
A flap disc on an angle grinder will make quick work of dressing the face of a belt grinder isn't available. I generally dress my hammer faces to quite a good radius, especially at the edges. The Smith who taught me said you shouldn't be able to leave a sharp dent with your main forging hammers no matter how you hit it.

Everyone seems to dress their hammers differently, and prefer different styles of hammers though.
 
Most hammars are soft enough to file, but a beltgrinder or sander will make quick work of dressing. Everybody has their preference of radius , etc.
They dont need to be shined like convex mirrors, just smooth.

Also, dont use forging hammars for any work aside of forging.
Use a different hammer for striking chisels, peening rivets, etc. Threaten a beating or beheading to anybody who might pick up one of your dressed forging hammars to "pound on something".
Since they maybe clueless to the difference, perhaps prohibit using ALL hammars or somehow colourcode or identify whats "borrow-able" and whats not.
 
Last edited:
Hickory n steel pretty much covered most of it. I would add, use a hammer/hammers that you can control. If you are a big burly manly man and can swing an 8lb sledge all day and put the strikes just where you want then go for it. Otherwise use a 2.5-3lb hammer or whatever you can swing and place the blows accurately. That means not just in the right spot but at the proper angle to the work piece. A big hammer can move metal quickly but if you can't control it you will put lots of unnecessary marks in your work. This will cost you more time later to remove those marks and remove material you'd rather not.
 
I often start with a 1.5Kg hammer and finish with a 1Kg. On things that need very clean bevels, I finish with a .75Kg.
 
+1^
3lb+ is just about right for me, I have a 4lb and it's a tad to much. Once the bulk is done I step down to a 1.5-2lb hammer. It's worth really working on hammer control as well as proper forging techniques. Forging is not just beating the crap out of the steel to make it thinner. There is an art to it and it all starts with reducing surface area contact. I am in no way as proficient in this art as I would like to be but allways push your self to be better then befor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top