Cold versus Hot Forging

All other factors being equal, are there significant advantages to having a knife cold forged as compared to the more common hot forging done.

Tia,

Harry

 

[mikeS]

Please elaborate . What do you mean by cold forged? What steel? Where did you hear of this?

 

[Kisu]

I think I know what you are talking about, there is a maker who makes knives by cold forging D2. As to the benifits I guess you don't need to buy a forge and it's an excelent way to show that yer nuts

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KSwinamer

Atheism....A non-prophet organization

 

[Osbourn]

The first problem with cold forging is cracks. Microfine cracks in the structure that won't show themselves until it breaks. The second problem is that it takes ten times as long to get a blade to shape and in the mean time trashes your hammer and anvil. They aren't normally meant to work cold steel. Advantages are that you do keep a small grain structure, because heating the steel is what causes grain growth, hitting it while hot retards that. With cold forging, you're skipping the growth, and going straight to breaking those crystals into smaller ones.
I like to play with fire, myself. And I don't like the risk involved, but some make it work for them.

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Oz

"This is your life, and it's ending; One minute at a time."
http://www.freespeech.org/oz/

 

My question stems in part from an article that Joe Szilaski did in the January 2000 issue of Blade for the "How To" column. He along with J.D. Smith and Ed Fowler had indicated that preliminary results were very promising at that time.

Oz , thanks for description of cold forging.

Kisu, I would agree, for the professional knifemaker this would not be an efficient use of his/her time, but for someone who makes the occassional knife, this would be one way to go, providing that one has the patience and is willing to accept the learning curve and challenge involved.

Harry

 

[mikeS]

Kozak, the way I understood the article was. That the method used wasn"t really "cold forgeing", as iit was"grain refining" . Hot forging is forge to shape in my book involving much more movement of the metal. The method that Joe used (involved I believe from memory) working the edge only until a thickness reduction of 3/32 was achieved. This puts it IMHO in the same class as a finishing heat albeit much hotter than the cold working. This is a facinating area to me, the thing that really caught my attention was the structure of the edge was actually different in the "cold work" blade as compared to the "straight". If I had some D-2 I would try a blade each way. Didn't Joe also use a plate or stake to preserve his anvil?

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If God did not intend for us to eat animals. Why did he make them out of meat?

 

[mikeS]

I almost forgot Ed Fowler did a review of an old time maker that worked some of his knives cold. Some I think were cut from car fenders, Back when cars were made of steel and not the compressed composite rust that they are today. Work hardening was what was going on in these old knives. Very interesting I must say.

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If God did not intend for us to eat animals. Why did he make them out of meat?