I have a full tang knife with an overall length of ten inches and a blade length of six inches I made from 1095. I've been using a paint can sized forge with only eight inches of depth. Is this forge going to be adequate to forge this blade or do I need a forge with more depth?
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Blade Length and Forge Size
- Thread starter D_Golden
- Start date
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2008
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- 1,762
since you can only work about six inches at a time there is no need to heat any more than that.
I need to harden the blade to finish it. From what I've read "Forging" the blade would harden the blade from it's annealed state. Am I wrong in this? Tempering would be occur after after forging. I just don't wan't to destroy the blade after spending a great deal of time working on it.
- Joined
- May 12, 2015
- Messages
- 9
Forging- make or shape (a metal object) by heating it in a fire or furnace and beating or hammering it.
Heat treating- Process in which a metal is heated to a certain temperature and the cooled in a particular manner to alter its internal structure for obtaining desired degree of physical and mechanical properties such as brittleness, hardness, and softness.
Tempering - improve the hardness and elasticity of (steel or other metal) by reheating and then cooling it.
Heat treating- Process in which a metal is heated to a certain temperature and the cooled in a particular manner to alter its internal structure for obtaining desired degree of physical and mechanical properties such as brittleness, hardness, and softness.
Tempering - improve the hardness and elasticity of (steel or other metal) by reheating and then cooling it.
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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For 1095 you need to evenly heat the blade to 1475F and hold it there for 10 minutes....note the word evenly! Overheating or unequal heating will cause problems.
Then you quench in either 120F canola oil or room temperature Parks #50 quenchant oil ( Park's is much better).
After the quench, you temper twice at 400-450F for one hour each temper. Cool off in water between the tempers.
The HT for 1095 will be a rather iffy in a small paint can forge. A proper HT oven or sending it out for HT is a far better idea.
Then you quench in either 120F canola oil or room temperature Parks #50 quenchant oil ( Park's is much better).
After the quench, you temper twice at 400-450F for one hour each temper. Cool off in water between the tempers.
The HT for 1095 will be a rather iffy in a small paint can forge. A proper HT oven or sending it out for HT is a far better idea.