Cold forging a knife

J

J.S. Carter

Joined
Jul 4, 2007
Messages
915
Evenin Feller's...found an old stock removal knife I lost a while back today, and thought why not give cold forging a try. The subject has intrigued me for some time now. And I've studied what Mr. Cashen said about it in a post of his a few months ago, as well as a few others I could find on the subject. The knife is a Loveless style drop point made out of 5/32" O1. I've ball-peen hammered in the bevels and the edge is about 1/32 thick now. Questions are... When do I know when to stop hammering. And about how Hard (approximate HRC) will it get/be?

Thanx in advance

Jason
 
Jason,
Cold forging will harden the steel somewhat, but to what degree is unpredictable. It will never approach the hardness of a quenched blade. The stresses that are formed give it hardness, but they also can lead to cracks. An alloy steel ,like O-1, should not be cold forged. Don't confuse the term Cold Work Steel, with cold forging. You should not forge O-1 below 1500F.
Cold forging has some effect on low carbon steels, like 1030 to 1050. But, to be blunt, why? A simple heat to non-magnetic and quench in oil ( not the most precise HT) will produce a harder edge than any cold forged blade.

Stacy
 
The concept of hardening a blade w/o heating it intrigued me. so I thought i'd experiment. I'm one of those guys who does not subscribe to the adage
"Just becuase you can, doesnt mean you should." I think it means entirely you should as long as it's w/i reason. anyway thanx for answering

Jason
 
You probably wouldn't get more than 10 % reduction before it cracks . In the old days with bronze and iron blades it was sometimes hardened by hammering but only the edge and there was a limit to how much.
 
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