Forging with 1095 HR

U

Uhurungus

Joined
Jan 8, 2015
Messages
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In my initial rush to start making knives i went out and bought a small order of 1095 HRAR (hot rolled, as rolled). Non annealed etc. as you can imagine, this stuff eats up my drill bits and bandsaw blades and my grinder doesn't touch it. I don't have the equipment to begin to properly treat this steel but i don't want to throw it out. I've read a bunch of threads about grain and Hypereutectoid steel structure and spheroidizedization. it's all pretty much still beyond me to both understand and remedy. I've read a bunch about problems this steel causes for stock removal and have experienced some of them.

But, here and there i see things pop up about how if you're going to forge it then don't worry about it. not much more though, just a quick mention and nothing to back it up.

so simply stated, can i EASILY forge a blade with this steel? i know less about smithing than i do about knifemaking. I'll be using a coal forge. i'm fishing for an answer i'll like but prepared to get one i wont. can i just cut out a few blanks and start heating and hammering and be good to go up until heat treating?
 
I've posted very little here but I've been forging knives and other things for about 8 months. There are steels that are easier to forge than others but I wouldn't say that forging any steel is ever EASY. Being that 1095 is a Hypereutectoid, the temperature window for forging it is a little smaller than some of the other steels with less carbon. In other words, it's easier to ruin in the forge than some of the other steels. Also, after it's forged to as close to it's finished shape as possible, it's still a good idea to anneal it before you do any grinding and normalizing it 2 or 3 times is a must, IMHO.

All that being said, 1095 is still a great knifemaking steel, not one of the hardest to forge and I certainly wouldn't throw it out.
 
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This is all being overthought. Seriously.

1095 is a great forging steel. Get it hot, hot it with a hammer until it's shaped like a knife. As you move the steel, and get it closer and closer to final dimension, use less heat. Afterward, do some low temperature cycles in the forge, allowing it to air cool between each heat to black, then do it over again. As long as you didn't turn the steel into a sparkler (hint - that's burning the steel, too hot!!), you'll be okay. If you want to do a "full anneal" on it so it's really easy to work with, heat it just past nonmagnetic on the last heat and stuff it into a bucket of wood ash overnight. Not a real anneal, but it ought to do ya.

If you're more serious about this, and want to do it by-the-book RIGHT, it'll take more than you have on hand. That wouldn't stop me from using it to make knives, though. Get on it!!!

1095 is a troublesome steel to start with. Much better off with 1084. Regardless, if it's what you've got, use it to learn with. Rest assured, you'll be picking up a lot of new skills when learning to forge...
 
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