Finally starting to Forge!

Cadillac86

Cadillac86

Joined
May 24, 2011
Messages
470
So for the past several years that I have been a member here, I have watched a lot of beautiful builds. I spent this past summer in the VA Hospital going through the PTSD program (from my time in the Army). A friend of mine offered to start teaching me to forge, and a couple days ago I finally started! This is the very first thing I've started to forge (Other than double teaming Damascus with him to flatten it out quicker).

Here is the beginning of my 5160 recurve blade:

dTwpREj.jpg


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If you have someone nearby that you can try it out with, do it. It has been a great way to channel my PTSD into something constructive. And since I'm not the most active person in the world, it's a nice little arm workout, lol
 
Cadillac86 said:
If you have someone nearby that you can try it out with, do it. It has been a great way to channel my PTSD into something constructive. And since I'm not the most active person in the world, it's a nice little arm workout, lol
Click to expand...

Thanks for your service brother! It's helped me with my issues from the military as well. Lookin good. Keep it up and keep us posted
 
OK, I'll be the one to say it.

You are wearing glasses and a full face shield, so you are obviously being careful........
yet you don't tie your apron around you to protect the rest of you????

I also feel that blue undershorts will make the blade come out with less decarb.

Just kidding about the shorts, but please tie that apron right.


To forge a recurve blade you have to start by curving the bar of steel much more than you want to end up with. Then as you forge the bevels, it will straighten up. Keep knocking the recurve back down to keep it slightly more than desired. As you do the final clean-up forge set it will end up what you want.

Almost all forged blades start with a banana curve and end up straight. If you start straight, you end up with a lifted point like a crazy skinner.

Always remember that you forge to basic shape and grind to final shape.

An overnight soak in white vinegar, or Sodium Bisulfate ( Ph down) solution, will remove a lot of the forge scale before you start filing/grinding.
 
Thanks! Yeah, it was my friends apron and i did end up clasping it when I realised I had forgotten to. I was expecting to go over and watch him make more Damascus, I was definitely not expecting to forge that day lol. He just goes "You said you like 5160 right?" Then hands me a bar to start forging haha. My wife is letting me spend a few hundred on myself, so I'm picking up a set of Peddinghaus hammers from blacksmith depot and i ordered my own gloves, apron, and mask. Not sure what else I should get. Ultimately he and I will build my own forge (probably next year), so for now I've got about $150 left to play with and thought I'd get my own tongs and metal.
 
forge thick, grind thin. I also second the vinegar, it makes removing the scale much easier. Personally I try and only heat the area I'm working on, especial when using a handle welded to it like you have. The handle will get rather floppy when hot, this makes forging difficult. This is where tongs are nice. A trick is to just weld a short stub onto the steel and use a pair of bolt tongs to hold the stub.
 
That's not a bad idea. Once i had the shape I wanted, I accidentally hit the bar and popped it off and switched over to tongs. Honestly I felt they were a lot easier than the bar. But i like the bolt tong idea!
 
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