Blade forging stock

[flatgrind8]

Ok guys what size stock do you use for forge knives,I know it depends on what size knife. But how much stock reduction do you normally do?

 

[Brian Ayres]

For forging I prefer 1/4" thick stock. 1/4"x1" for hunters, and fighters. 1/4"x1-1/4" or 1-1/2" for Camp Knives, Bowies. With 1-1/2" you will draw it out a bit to keep from making a cleaver.....

 

[Leatherface]

what brian said

 

[David Loukides]

The nice thing about forging a blade is the volume and center of mass is what matters.
I have a bunch of 1/2" x 1". I use it in place of my 1/4" x 2"
1.5" ball bearings and 3/4" rod stock works good.

In a nut shell what Brian said +2

 

[Fred.Rowe]

I enjoy forging large stock like 1 1/2" square and the same size rounds. I find forging the distal taper into the blade is easier when you start with large stock. I lose less material than when using flat stock.
Everyone has a slightly different approach when it comes to stock reduction.

 

[james terrio]

Being a stock-removal guy, I'm talking completely off the top of my noggin here... but I'm sure there's a geometric rule of thumb for determining the final mass of the piece you want to end up with, and thus select the appropriate mass of steel to start with. It seems to me the biggest advantage of forging is making the very most use of the steel you start with. (I'm sure you've noticed that most SR guys simply don't make a whole lot of big Bowies or camp knives... it gets pricy out of proportion to the finished product really quick. I "waste" a stupid amount of perfectly good steel, time and belts when I grind a big honkin' chopper out of 1/4" stock... a forger who knows what he's doing and how much steel he actually needs, wastes very little, whether he starts with bar, rounds or spheres.)

On the other hand, the OP may be asking how close to final dimension you all forge, and how much scale you expect to grind off after HT to get back down to fresh clean steel.

 

[Brian Ayres]

A trick that I learned from a blacksmith was to take clay, say in a 1" square(or whatever steel you have) and "forge" it to shape to see how much of a particular steel you need for a project.
Hope this helps!