bladesmithing beginner help?

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bobalini

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i live in thousand oaks california and i am 14. i recently bought a forge and was trying out a railroad spike knife but cracked it in the forging process. i think it was because i did not curve in the cutting edge. do you curve it against the horn of the anvil? also what is a sugjested barstock size for a knife (as far as width goes)? since i am using an atmospheric dual burner forge from majestic forge what is the recomeded way to reserve as much fuel as you can wile using the propane. is there anywhere nearby thousand oaks that could get togetherwith me and maybe show me / teach how to forge good solid knives. im sorry about all the questions it just im so intrested to start right up and build them but i have now learned you dont just make them as easy as i thought (i new it would be hard but not this hard) and i have also learned that the key is practice i just want to know that i will be practicing the correct stuff. and last but finally who can give me instructions on building tongs. all comments will be greatly appreciated and im am happy to join the bladesmithing group (or get on my way to joining haha) thank you everybody!!!!!!!!!!
 
bobalini said:
i live in thousand oaks california and i am 14. i recently bought a forge and was trying out a railroad spike knife but cracked it in the forging process. i think it was because i did not curve in the cutting edge. do you curve it against the horn of the anvil? also what is a sugjested barstock size for a knife (as far as width goes)? since i am using an atmospheric dual burner forge from majestic forge what is the recomeded way to reserve as much fuel as you can wile using the propane. is there anywhere nearby thousand oaks that could get togetherwith me and maybe show me / teach how to forge good solid knives. im sorry about all the questions it just im so intrested to start right up and build them but i have now learned you dont just make them as easy as i thought (i new it would be hard but not this hard) and i have also learned that the key is practice i just want to know that i will be practicing the correct stuff. and last but finally who can give me instructions on building tongs. all comments will be greatly appreciated and im am happy to join the bladesmithing group (or get on my way to joining haha) thank you everybody!!!!!!!!!!
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If it cracked, you may have hit it when it was too cold.
 
Is your name actually Bob? I'll call you that for now.

Bob, you need to fill out your profile. Not trying to scold you, it's just that people are more likely to try and help you out if they can see stuff about you.

14 is a good age to start. It's good that you have a decent forge to start with.

Go to anvilfire.com. In all the tutorial stuff there, they have some good instructions for making tongs. Try to get some books on general smithing- Percy Blandford's "Practical Blacksmithing and Metalworking" has good tongs, as do Charles McRaven's "The Blacksmith's Craft" and to a lesser extent, "The Art of Blacksmithing" by Alex Bealer. It's a tough thing to explain solely in words. Your local library may well have smithing books. Go have a look.

I'm with Joe. I suspect you hit it too cold. Keep the steel hot or you are wasting your energy and doing it damage.

To conserve fuel, block the door(s) up so that the back is closed and the front is not much bigger than what you need to move your work in and out. Run one burner only for most of your forging, if you want you can quickly bring the forge up to heat with both and then run one after that. I don't know if you have a quick shut-off in the line such as a ball or needle valve, but if you do once the forge is up to heat you can shut the fuel off as you are taking the steel out to forge. Then when you put the steel back in just crack the valve open once more. If your forge liner is hot, it will act like a pilot light and light the gas when you turn it back on. If it does not, re-light with a torch or whatever. Also, you can taper the regulator pressure off as the forge gets hotter over time. You might preheat the thing at 10 psi, forge for a while at 5-6 psi, and after a while taper it off to 3-4 psi- what matters is that you get an adequate heat. Experiment.

If you have a bunch more questions and want to actually talk, my number is under "contact me" at my website and feel free to call. Good luck.
 
He either was forging too cold , or.......
H way overheated it. There is a tendency for new makers to run the forge at full throttle and get the metal real hot. If the mild steel was struck hard at 2200-2300F it could break apart.

Bob, read as much as you can, and try and meet up with someone to show you some basic skills.
 
names will thats just my email internet name and i totally forgot about this thread till now
 
Will has a new thread parallel to this one, so I will lock this thread to avoid confusion.
 
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