forging tips and tricks?

C

clockworkfish

Joined
Dec 1, 2010
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161
So my buddy and i just built a 2 burner forced air forge and will be practicing our forging skills with railroad spikes (wanted to use something that was free before i use the 5160 i got) So a few questions i have are
- how do you get bevels into the knife?
*i have tried forging before and the best bevels i got were just flat and more like a drawn out bar than actual bevels

-Avoiding pitting?
*Again, in previous attempts i have had this happen and am unsure of how to remidy it

-making intigral bolsters?
* for when i get into that 5160, is it just a lot of file work to get slabs to fit? or is there something else im missing?

-Fitting handles using a stick tang, and burning it into a block of wood
* Not so much a forging technique but still, to do this do you just drill a pilot hole, heat the tip of the tang and poke it in? is epoxy needed?

-When heat treating in a forge, what kind of magnet works best for determining if the steel has reached critical?
*neodymium? the biggest you can find? any cheap ones that people are aware of that work really well?

-for heat treating, just turn on the gas and keep oxygen low and bring the kiln slowly up to temp? (am i missing anything or am i horribly wrong?)

-Lastly im sorry if any of this has been asked before, but while im at it i might as well ask, any good videos, youtube channels, books or other media for forging advice?

Thanks for your help! I love hearing what you guys have to say!
Sorry if some of these are stupid questions, i just want to double check my logic before getting into a new mess.

***BONUS QUESTION****
-Anyone know of some good in depth metallurgical books? i have the one for bladesmiths, and i have been slowly getting through it but i would like to start a small library of these kinds of books.
 
Make sure the hammer you are using has a smooth convex face with no sharp edges or corners. The sharpedges will cause a lot of pitting and otherwise unwanted marks in your finished blade.
 
I've been blacksmithing for a good while, but am fairly new to forging blades, so take this with a grain of salt. They way I was shown to hammer a bevel is similar to pointing a piece of round stock. Move the thin edge of the blade to the edge of your anvil face, and strike so your hammer blows form a wedge between the edge of the anvil and the top of the knife bevel. If your work is flattening, you are likely working out in the middle of the anvil face, and not getting angled hammer blows.

I use neodymium magnets (pulled from an old disk drive) tied to the end of some copper wire, to test non-magnetic. The copper is non-ferrous and won't easily burn up, I can swing it towards the blade to see if the magnet pulls.
 
For goodness sake, please research the heat treating info for the steel you are choosing! That is my advice. Steel loses its magnetism at 1414 f (google "Curie Point of steel") there is no steel that austentizes at 1414. 5160 needs to soak at temperature for a period of time. If you are insisting on using a magnet to judge temperature buy some 1084, it does not need much time at temperature so it is likely to be hot enough by the time you realize it is nonmagnetic. Gotta go to work now, more later

-Page
 
how do you get bevels into the knife?
*I have tried forging before and the best bevels i got were just flat and more like a drawn out bar than actual bevels
Hammer in the direction you want the steel to move.

-Avoiding pitting?
*Again, in previous attempts i have had this happen and am unsure of how to remedy it
Wipe off the anvil every heat after you put the blade back in the forge. Brush off the blade before you start every forging heat. Heat to the right temperature, but avoid overheating.

-making integral bolsters?
* for when I get into that 5160, is it just a lot of file work to get slabs to fit? or is there something else I'm missing?
Make or buy a fullering tool. Fuller the tang from the bolster and draw it out, then fuller the blade form the bolster and draw it out. Shape the blade as desired. A milling machine can make getting things even and straight easier after the basic blade is forged..

-Fitting handles using a stick tang, and burning it into a block of wood
* Not so much a forging technique but still, to do this do you just drill a pilot hole, heat the tip of the tang and poke it in? is epoxy needed?
Drill, burn, clean out, repeat.

-When heat treating in a forge, what kind of magnet works best for determining if the steel has reached critical?
*neodymium? the biggest you can find? any cheap ones that people are aware of that work really well?
What Page said - you want the steel about 100°F hotter than non-magnetic.

-for heat treating, just turn on the gas and keep oxygen low and bring the kiln slowly up to temp? (am i missing anything or am i horribly wrong?)
Just set the flame for the atmosphere you want, and adjust the pressure to allow the forge to stay at about 1500°F.

-Lastly I'm sorry if any of this has been asked before, but while I'm at it i might as well ask, any good videos, YouTube channels, books or other media for forging advice?
Almost all of this is in the stickies, as well as available by search. The stickies have the search engine to use, too.

Thanks for your help! I love hearing what you guys have to say!
Sorry if some of these are stupid questions, i just want to double check my logic before getting into a new mess.

***BONUS QUESTION****
-Anyone know of some good in depth metallurgical books? I have the one for bladesmiths, and I have been slowly getting through it but i would like to start a small library of these kinds of books.
The stickies have a good list of metallurgical books. The ASM Heat Treater's Guide is a good reference, and "Metallurgy" by Johnson and Weeks is pretty easy to understand
 
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