faux forged antique blade - so far...

D

dustbust_1

Joined
Jun 5, 2012
Messages
57
After some good input from fellow craftsmen on here i decided to attempt a faux antique blade.

For starters i cut out my design with a hacksaw then shaped it down with a belt sander.

After I had my shape I took a ball peen hammer to the blade and played whack-a-mole for 2 hours and really beat up the blade.

for a test run I placed it in vineger for 15 min then sanded it down to see what the potential may look like. So far I think it looks pretty good.

right now it is sent off for heat treatment (bear claw forge, Lee Oates) when it returns I will sand the surface slightly and leave the scale on the indents.

I will post the remaining progress when the blades get back.



 
There are folks who like that look ( not me), but what about that look would appear to be a forged blade?
It may look somewhat like one that was severely rusted and pitted, but forging does not leave thousands of round divots.
That finish is called "hammertone" for the obvious reason that it is made by whacking it with a ball peen hammer thousands of times.

When hardened and etched for contrast, I would call that blade an "antiqued hammertone finish knife".

That said, it should make a good knife. A plain and old looking wood , like persimmon, hickory, ash, or walnut will add to the overall effect. Be sure to fully stress relieve the blade before HT.
 
Hammertone sounds good to me. I was basically experimenting trying to get a rough look. I like the way it turned out. But I also like patinas on knives and dislike mirror polished knives. Good tip on stress relieving the blade. I prob would not have done that. I'm going to ask Lee if he could do that for me while they are away. You prob just saved me a lot of heart ache.
 
2 pound hammer + a thousand blows = lots of stress.

You have stressed/disrupteded lots of grain boundaries, any of which can become a crack. Fully stress reliving the blade wlll make the grain boundaries all happy again.
 
I talked to Lee Oats and he says he stress relieves all his work before they get hardened. SAWEET!

I have a nice piece of walnut already picked for the handle. I agree with you Stacy that a simple wood will look best on this piece. Not to say exotics would look bad but for more of a traditional antique piece I think this works best. I "handled" a polar scandi blade (they leave the scale on) with black and white ebony and it looks really nice for a modern scandi but it doesent have that old time feel.
 
finished product shots. Turned out pretty good. I ended up forcing a vinegar patina on it to give it an old look to the metal.

jybs.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top