Forging a large Cleaver

A

aaamax

Joined
Jun 27, 2010
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For those of you that have forged a Chukabocho type in the 240mm range.
How do you keep that thing true? Straighten one area and the other goes wonky.

Using 1084 in coal forge and at the last stages of thinning. Not going crazy thin like a Yoshikane or a Shig, but still thin enough to be a true veg. cleaver.

My post vise has a good sized mouth at about 7" and it helps, but still can't get it true and squared up.

Any thoughts?
Cheers.
 
Thanks Joshua, I never thought of that. Was always a bit tentative about woking it cold, but I've seen some of the Japanese bladesmiths do it as well...
Makes sense, working cold gives a more localized effect.

My problem is that I really wanted to go thin and wow, no fun. Wonky, wonky... LOL. I guess more work on the grinder/sander is the key after forging a bit thicker as well.
 
aaamax said:
I really wanted to go thin and wow, no fun. Wonky, wonky... LOL
Click to expand...
So how thin did you go before HT? The standard reply here seems to be to leave the edge at least 0.020" for heat treating to avoid the bacon edge.
 
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