Forged my first blade tonight

At least you can make a knife out of your first shot at forging, I could not. Very nicely done keep up the good work.
 
Phil, it was running at about 1800 for the majority of the work until I was finishing up when I lowered it to 1500.

Thanks for the encouragement even though I think the initial product was something only a father could love :). At least it looks like it will turn into a decent blade. I definitely want to get more practice at this...you know, maybe 20 or 30 years worth. :D

--nathan
 
We better ask him for photos of his stock before it went into the forge next time. For all we know, he profiled the dang thing with his CNC first! :p;):D
 
Looks wonderful you are getting me inspired to try forging! I like the idea of starting tapered tangs, blade bevels, and distal tapers with a hammer. I seem to remember a making saying he uses shaped hammers to start hollowed bevels. Less time at the grinder is very appealing to me.
 
I can say that this blade took WAY less time at the grinder than a full stock removal blade. Even with the pi$$-poor job I did forging in my bevels for the first time, It only took a few minutes with a Blaze belt, and I had them where I needed them. I also need to work more carbon steels. This stuff is butter to grind compared to the CPM154 I usually work :D.

--nathan
 
BTW, any suggestions as to what steel to use for a post-anvil-type hardy tool? I'm going to start looking for a piece of steel about 3-4" square by an inch or so thick so I can establish cleaner plunges and forge the ricasso area better.

--nathan
 
4140 or 4142 (which is pre-hardened 4140) would be my choice for a low cost, ASO, or anvil tool. 5160 makes great hardy hole cut off's and 4140 rounds for taper drifts (for hawks)

Jason
 
Nathan... I simply cleaned up the edges of my post anvil to put in my plunge lines and rads.

4 edges...... sharp, 1/8"rad, 1/4"rad, 1/2"rad.

Rick
 
Rick, that would be the ideal. However, my anvil (a Hay Budden) is about 80-90 years old, and most of the edges have seen better days, though there are still some good lengths. I was thinking of making a hardy tool set up similar to your post anvil that I can use on top of my HB. I really like the idea of a post anvil. I'll have to make or buy one some day. Seems like a very efficient use of space.

Jason, thanks for the suggestions!

--nathan
 
I spent the afternoon in the shop working on this blade after heat treating it yesterday. Here's the blade after I clayed it:

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And here it is after about 4 hours work today:

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Thanks for looking!

--nathan
 
That looks great. Never tried forging before but I think it turned really nice. Like what you did with the clay and tempering. Like to know more about that. John
 
Great looking knife! I'm going to try forging my first blade sometime in the next couple of days. Bet mine won't look half as nice though. I am absolutely obsessed with the idea of being able to manipulate red hot steel with a hammer.
 
Nathan, that is great!
Can't wait to get into forging but that blade REALLY cooks my goose, I'll be years to get one that nice.And @ my age, I don't have years to try, But it will be fun.
GREAT job bud.

BTW what was the quench?
Keep up the GOOD work
Jerry
 
Thanks, Jerry, and everyone else. I quenched in slightly warmer than room temperature Park's #50.

John, if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer. Using clay on a shallow hardening steel like W2 is a form of differential hardening. In other words, the steel below the hamon (the edge) gets fully hard (martensite), and the steel above the hamon (the spine) stays somewhat soft (pearlite). It can easily get a lot more complicated than that, but that's the main idea. This happens because the steel has to cool fast enough to harden. The clay retains heat, and causes the spine to cool more slowly, thus missing the window for hardening whereas the edge is able to cool fast enough to harden.

Now, there is a big argument about whether that is a good thing or a bad thing. My personaly belief is that a hamon doesn't add any significant gain to a blade other than the aesthetics in its beauty. If you've ever had a chance to see a really good hamon in person, there is just so much depth and action in them. It gets my blood flowing every time. Performance wise, I usually prefer to fully harden my blades (no clay and quench the entire blade) and use a torch to draw back the temper on the spine for blades that will see significant chopping or abuse.

But I do love me some hamons!! I'm in trouble. I have both the forging bug and the hamon bug. My life will never be the same :D.

--nathan
 
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