do most of you forge or grind from stock?

S

SkaerE

Joined
Sep 9, 2001
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ultimately i guess everybody grinds, but how many of you forge the blade mostly to shape first?

i've only done stock removal so far, but im just starting :)

is it even possible to effectivly forge stainless or some of the "super steels"?

im just wondering, :) eventually i'd like to get into forging as well...

thanks
 
I forge All High carbon steel myself..
There really isn't any benefit to forging stainless or the new super steels in my opinion.
Bruce
 
There really isn't any benefit to forging stainless or the new super steels

does forging high carbon steels make them better? or does it just make it easier when you go to grinding? (and you can use metal other than flat stock)
 
Forge, but then again I do almost exclusively, swords.
Forging has it benefits, in reducing grain size, nothing some extra thermal cycles wont do in stock removal, I just forge cause I like to.

Joe renner
 
Stock removal although I do have a propane forge and an anvil. I just have not gotten too interested in learning how to forge and ruining alot of steel I guess. I tried it once when I first got everything built and I tried a railroad spike. I didn't have it flat on my anvil and when the hammer struck it, it bounced off the anvil and came up and hit my square in the face right below my only seeing eye. I was wearing safety goggles but the impact hit below them and knocked them off my face. Hurt quite a bit having a red hot spike strike you with much force believe me. But the forge is what I do all my heat treating with. Cory
 
Forging and damascus is great fun. I would quit if I had to do stock removal only. On a more positive note for stock removal I usually make my damascus into bar stock and cut it out just like stock removal. I honestly beleive the forged blade cuts the best but there are a thousand things that can and do go wrong. For the most consistant cutting and edge holder I think the new high alloyed steels like the Crucible Particle Metalurgy (CPM) are the best. They must be heat-treated properly but most people that do them have the spot-on digital oven and foil wrap or argon atmosphere followed by a cryogenic treatment, proper tempering and a final Rockwell hardness test. I will never under-estamate a stock removal blade with these new steels.

I like the romance of forming hot steel and Joined The American Bladesmith Society.
 
With stainless I buy it annealed. Forging it would only make it harder to grind because I don't know how to get the correct annealing sequence for stainless.
Carbon and damascus steel I like to forge to shape when possible. If the damascus is forged to shape with some patterns it makes a differnce the pattern follows the shape of the blade. Some patterns does not matter. You also have the advantage of getting a slightly biger blade because the metal is streched out not ground away.

If Im not sure what I want I will just make bar stock anneal it and cur it to shape. With carbon blades some have a saying "an extra 10 min forging can save you 30 grinding". If you forge your tappers and bevels it will save some grinding but you will have to watch how you finnish off. If you get an edge of the hammer mark when you are at the finnishing stage there is no mettal left to grind it out. That is why you have the choices of being carefull leaving a little thicker blade or using a flatter to finnish of. If you have not heard of a flatter it is a square faces hammer with a soft back edge you hold the flatter on the balde and hit the back with a second hammer. This is easyer with someone else holding the flatter for you.

Hope that was of some use.
 
Forging and stock removal both. Forging is a lot of fun, the blade really seems to develop a "soul" or come to life, for lack of better description, faster when forging than when doing stock removal. It literally takes shape before your eyes. Sometimes it's nice however to just pick up a piece of steel and cut, file or grind it into a knife. It still comes to life in your hands, it just seems to be a function of how much time and effort you put into working on it.

Like Bruce, I am very attracted to the romance, as he put it, of the forged blade. I like to think I am connected in a special way to the bladesmiths of old (and the bladesmiths of today!) when I forge a knife.

I also think, with proper thermal cycling, a stock removal blade of "x" steel can perform as well as a forged blade of the same "x" steel.

Forging can be faster if you are a skilled smith. I've watched a local smith forge a knife from a large file to shape and then grind it to finished shape, ready for heat treat in just under 30 minutes or so! His shop is really set up to facilitate this also.
 
So far just stock removal, but i just setup my first forge and anvil. Heated and hammered my first steel yesterday. Can't wait until I know what the heck I'm doing. Forging is mystical, fun, exciting and kinda romantic for me. my journey has just begun, but so far it is a great adventure.
 
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