Forging round bar question

[Evan Martin]

Say I took a 1.125 inch round pieces of cru forge v and forged it down to 3/8" thick how wide would the bar be? I'm wanting to build a forged competion cutter sized knife which is 10" blade 2" wide and 15" oal want it to weigh about 1.9-1.10 lbs! I'm looking for about 3/8" thick x 1.5" wide to start the knife

 

[tinkerer]

I may be naively oversimplifing this, but if D=1.125, and area equals 3.14X(1.125/2)squared. Now divide that by .375. I get almost 3".

Unless I am missing something about forging?

Larry
Tinkerer

 

[Sam Salvati]

The volume calculation will get you close, but with the variables in the shape of the dies/hammer and anvil and such will make a difference. I'd say based on judgement alone in my experience you'll get 2" maybe 2.5"

 

[Evan Martin]

Thanks guys I've only work with flat stock, I glad to here I will have alot more wiggle room than I thought I needed

 

[jdm61]

if you just draw it out with standard press or hammer dies, it will probably end up being longer and narrower than you expected it to be. When you get it down to say under 3/4 thick, you might want to think about "pinching" the edges out to say under 1/2 some way and drawing the middle. My experience has been that if you want a 2 inch wide blade, you might want to start with closer to 1 5/8-1 3/4 inch wide flat stock.