forging an integral out of d2 ?

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mitch8

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Oct 11, 2010
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my friend got some d2 tool steel round stock and i was wondering if we could forge a burt foster style integral out of it. we are using a coal fired forge and have some rebar to practice on.
what mistakes am i about to make?
what tips cat you give me on making integrals? i really like that style of blades.
 
ive read about ht on d2 so i know what temperatures to take it to but i haven't heard much about forging it. also what should i do to anneal it? will dry ashes work or do i need some other method?
 
Forge HOT ( red short), do a grain refinement after forging, then do a sub-critical anneal.
 
Hi Mitch8,
Joe Szilaski forges D2 a lot and Very successfully. Can it be done? Yes. But there is a some learning about working it to get the max performance out of D2. I believe Joe told me he forges D2 at sub critical temperature.
My Guess is that you are pretty new to forging if you are going to practice making a integral out of rebar. May I suggest is try some 5160 to practice on. 5160 is more forgiving than D2 and will give you a serviceable knife. You will also be learning how the steel moves under the hammer.
I use 01 for integrals and have had problems in pulling the blade material down. I was folding or cracking the blade at the transition from the round to the blade. I was running to cool of a temperature. I have at least 5 rejects in learning how not to crack it. 5 more rejects in getting forging to come out to proper shape.
If you can get a class on forging integrals it will help out a lot.
Sincerely,
Dave
 
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Hi Stacy,
By forging hot you mean in the 2000+ F range.
Do you know anybody that does the sub critical temp forging of D2?
If not I will confirm with Joe what I believe he said to me.
I do not want to screw up anyone here.
Sincerely,
Dave
 
ive forged o1 and 52100 into simple full tang knives but i haven't done any work with guards yet. ive still got some o1 round left, will that work about the same as 5160?

and thanks for the help, learning from mistakes is good but learning from others mistakes is a whole lot cheaper.
 
Hi Mitch,
The problem I had to overcome with O1 was that I was forging it on the cold side. The transition of the round stock to the blade needed to be a bit hotter while forging. It took some Trial and error. Once I got past the point of round stock to the blade I lowered my temps back to normal.
Sincerely,
Dave
 
I went and looked it up. I thought D-2 forged about 100° hotter, but it is not all that bad if you keep it hot.

First - Scratch what I said about a grain refinement. Apparently D-2 does not like to be normalized.
Do the sub-critical stress relief at 1250-1300°F and hold for 1 hour, then air cool.

Forging:
Pre-heat to 1200-1300°F
Raise to 1850-2005°F
Forge until it drops to 1695°F
Do not forge below 1695°F
Cools slowly from 1695°F after forging
Do not rapid cool in air from 1695°F


What I remember from forging D-2 is it did not move well under the hammer.
 
that sub critical stress relief is between what 2 steps? and is that the same as annealing or tempering?
 
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