forging stick tang from wide stock

ScottRoush

ScottRoush

Joined
Jan 10, 2010
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I've been getting more into hidden tangs now and was wondering what is the easiest way to forge a stick tang from from wide stock. I've only been able to get 1 1/2" x 1/4" 1084 from Aldo and I find it very easy to forge the blades.... but what about the tang? So far, I've just narrowed it down a bit on the anvil and then ground the rest... but it's such a waste of steel...

thanks a lot for any suggestions!
 
Moss, there are many tutorials on the internet on forging knives.
Basically you need to fuller a notch into each edge to isolate the tang from the blade, then draw out the tang with a cross pein hammer or on a cylindrical surface with a flat hammer on top.
Forging the tang is much easier than forging the blade.
Good Luck and have fun!

Alden
 
Hi.. I should've clarified. I know the basic concept I guess... It's the fact that the steel is so wide and thin, it wants to cave in on the sides and I spend all my time flattening it back out... It seems like it would be so much easier with more narrow and thicker stock... but 1 1/2 X 1/4 is pretty wide to forge down into a tang???
 
thanks a lot folks... I made a Godzilla but it needs work. I used too small of a pivot bolt and he has too much play from side to side right now. Need to put him back on the workbench....
 
The other thing that Ray didn't say is to draw it at near welding temps. Around 2000-2100F. It will draw like butter. Too cool ( only forging smiths consider 1600-1800F cool) and it will indeed roll up.
 
Use a heavy hammer and you will move metal to the middle, use a light hammer and you will only upset the edges

-Page
 
this is great stuff guys..... thanks a lot. I've been WAY too conservative with my heats....
 
Absolutely, get it hot. Then comes hammer control. If you do not have a godzilla you must hit it square. If you are even slightly off you will make a horseshoe out of it. If it is not hot enough it will mushroom top and bottom. The rest is practice. Oh a power hammer helps too, if you have one.

Good luck
 
Mossy, does your fullering device have a guide on each side of the moveable jaw? It should, near the pivot to control the sideways slop. Also on mine I have rounded cutouts for starting the fuller and then you can go to the straight portion of the jaw to go even narrower.
On your hammer make sure the "flat" side is not flat, but crowned so that it spreads the metal quicker. Once the tang is started you can use the horn of the anvil to draw it out.
Look for videos on the web (youtube) to watch others draw out the tang. 1/4" is not too thin as to cause a problem. In a couple of weeks you'll be way beyond this little speed bump.
Have fun.
Alden
 
Mossanimal, I must apologize. I just looked on youtube and elsewhere and I cannot find a decent video on forging the tang. There may be one, but I couldn't find it. There are good tutorials (I think). Hopefully you can watch someone, or find a video.
Keep on tryin'.
Alden
 
I do the first draw on the anvil flat using the peen of the hammer. I have rounded the peen on my drawing hammer to about a 3/8" radius.This leaves the tang looking like rebar, but that will be fixed later.. Then I continue with the hammer flat ( which is actually slightly rounded), drawing the tang out farther on the horn, and shaping it a bit better. I finish it up and make everything look good back on the anvil flat. With some practice, you can draw the last 2" of a 2X1/4" piece of stock out into an 7" tang in five minutes or so.
 
I've recently done some stick tangs out of wide stock.
It can be done pretty easily. Just practice, practice, practice.
Since I forge as a hobby and I can forge only every now and then, my forge being at my mother in law country home, around 80 miles from my home in Milano, I find it best to avoid forging delicate parts until I've practiced on simpler forms. I usually warm up by forging hooks and simple tools out of rebar, or drawing stock for knives, and only when I feel I'm ok I try the tricky parts.
 
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