Billet handle

[Stromberg Knives]

Hey guys!

Here's a really silly newbie question.

I'm continuing my experiments with laminated steel and forge welded a new piece today. But as I was drawing it out on my power hammer the handle kept sagging and it was hard to keep the billet straight under the hammer.

For a handle I used a 12mm round steel bar which I welded to the billet.

How do you avoid this problem? Should I put the billet just inside the forge to keep the round bar from getting too hot? Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!

 

[weo]

12 mm? That's less than 1/2" if I'm not mistaken.
Use thicker stock.

Should I put the billet just inside the forge to keep the round bar from getting too hot?

The problem with this is that the billet may not get hot enough, especially when setting the weld, not as important when drawing out....

The best answer will come from your experiments, play around with stock size and how far in the forge you put it. If you pay attention, you'll figure out how to best use your setup

 

[Justin Schmidt]

I've seen a lot of guys use a pair of tongs in their off hand to hold the handle and have more control. Not sure if that's something you have tried

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Another trick is to use 3/4" stock for the handle and forge the end out into a fish tail. Grind it flat on the end and weld the billet all the way across. This provides much more bonding surface between the billet and handle ... and a thicker handle for better grip and less sag.

 

[Josh Rider]

I don’t have a power hammer, but I prefer to forge with box jaw tongs for flat stuff compared to a round bar.

 

[HSC ///]

another way to do this is with no handle...
you can use two tongs to grasp at the same time, one in each hand,
search images for Murray Carter forging
give it a try with some scrap steel, no handle becomes one less thing to worry about.

btw, love your clean shop

 

[Stromberg Knives]

another way to do this is with no handle...
you can use two tongs to grasp at the same time, one in each hand,
search images for Murray Carter forging
give it a try with some scrap steel, no handle becomes one less thing to worry about.

btw, love your clean shop

Interesting technique, I’ll check it out. Thanks!

 

[coldsteelburns]

I've seen a some guys weld two pieces of rebar or round stock side by side and then weld that (those) to the billet as a single handle, which I believe was to add some rigidity and perhaps also make it easier to handle and flip the billet, you might give that a try.


~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Just some older videos of some knives I've made in the past)

 

[Travis_Wright]

I usually leave my middle layer or layers an inch or so longer than the rest of the layers so I can grab on with a pair of tongs vs worrying about a handle.

 

[weo]

I usually leave my middle layer or layers an inch or so longer than the rest of the layers so I can grab on with a pair of tongs vs worrying about a handle.

Oh yeah!, Thanks for reminding me. I do this too, but after the initial billet is welded and drawn out (to something around a 1 1/2" x 3/8" bar) and cut into 5 pieces and re-stacked....

 

[Travis_Wright]

You can still use it the same way with restacking and further forge welds. No need to cut this piece off just yet.

 

[JTknives]

Ok so your problem is not what you think it is. Rebar is fine for me up to really large billets. When thy get big I double them up. What’s happening with you is improper hammer technique. So you start forging and your not perfectly flat with the dies. The top die strikes the billet quickly forcing it flat to the dies. This speed sets a tiny “kink” in your handle downward. So you lift up the handle to combat this downward kink and the next whack makes it worse becaus you lifted the ass end of the billet off the dies. It’s a problem that quickly gets worse exponentially. If you pull the billet from the forge and it instantly droops like a wet noodle then you need a thicker handle. But if your causing it with improper technique then it won’t matter how big of a handle you weld onto it.

 

[weo]

Thanks for expanding the line of thought on this thread JT.
I agree that, provided the weld attaching the handle is good, this is most likely the issue.

 

[Stromberg Knives]

Thanks for the additional tips and tricks. I’ll definitely pay close attention to my hammering technique, and make sure to use heavy enough stock for the handle.

By the way, any recommendations about the power hammer dies? I’m using flat dies and rounded the corners slightly, as described by Don Hanson III in an earlier post.

But I noticed they aren’t perfectly aligned, should I fix this? If so, should I grind them or is it possible to align them with adjustments with the mountings?