- Joined
- Jun 28, 2011
- Messages
- 40
bladsmith: Don't worry, I am no sally that can't take others comments and I respect you very much. And I think one thing I forgot to point out in my post was that, what I meant by using junk metal to practice on was just practice grinding and shaping. A new person may not even have a way to HT at first but they could work on profiling and grinding bevels on what ever steel they have lying around. I was not saying to learn to heat treat or expect to finish a completed knife from junk steel. Simply to practice shaping. And I am not saying go out and buy some mild steel to practice one, but if you have some scrap lying around, why not get some free practice in?
And yes, I am a metal working professional having my own business and a shop to run, but I am new to bladesmithing and the fine details of metallurgy. Which by the way I have learned ALLOT from this forum and you in particular bladsmith. But I also know when someone has more relevant knowledge about the topic at hand. I have no problem bowing down to your knowledge it this matter. Although I still see no harm in practicing SHAPING on a piece of junk metal, knowing it's junk metal with no intent to take it past shaping. Once a person is confident with there skills they will not want to mess with junk metal anymore. I don't have allot of good blade steel just lying around like many of you might have and I also know the value of metal being a shop owner in these tough economic times and hate to see metal wasted, so I see nothing wrong with a guy practicing there hand at shaping a blade from junk lawnmower blades that are free.
When working on a new design, do you go strait to cutting up good steel to see what it's going to be like or do you go to paper first? Do most of you draw out the design on paper or even cut it out in card board first? If you shape something in junk metal, to see what it is going to turn out like first, you can always try to do it again in good steel. Time wasted? Not if you learned something. That is my point, if you are practicing shaping on junk metal, you might say it is a waist of time because that metal will never become a knife but I say if you are learning something, than you are not wasting time. If you are going to buy steel to practice on than it would make no sense buying mild steel and then I would say just get some 1084, but if you have junk steel just lying around and its free, and you need practice like any new guy does, than why not?
I respect everything you say bladsmith and many others here for that matter but I will have to stand by my opinion on this one. I don't think the goal is to make a person a pro metallurgist after there first knife. I see it as a HUGE learning curve and the first step at making a knife, is making a piece of metal resemble a knife. That in itself is a challenge and quite literally the first challenge. Learning the geometry of a blade and learning how to get both sides even with equal amounts of metal, is not easy. Getting good at shaping blades will help later on as an unevenly shaped knife, as you know is far more likely to warp and/or break during HT. Practicing your shaping skills on some free junk lawnmower blades is not a waist in anyway shape or form. In fact, you would literally be tuning waist into knowledge and experience. Once again, I don't see any reasonable logic pointing to that being a bad thing.
Emerson15, if I were you I would go to town on those junk lawnmower blades. It sounds like you already ordered some good steel (don't get me wrong this is a good thing) so as soon as you are ready, you will be set to move on to the good stuff. If you are confident than skip the lawnmower blades and don't listen to me at all LOL, I'm just a guy with little experience.
And yes, I am a metal working professional having my own business and a shop to run, but I am new to bladesmithing and the fine details of metallurgy. Which by the way I have learned ALLOT from this forum and you in particular bladsmith. But I also know when someone has more relevant knowledge about the topic at hand. I have no problem bowing down to your knowledge it this matter. Although I still see no harm in practicing SHAPING on a piece of junk metal, knowing it's junk metal with no intent to take it past shaping. Once a person is confident with there skills they will not want to mess with junk metal anymore. I don't have allot of good blade steel just lying around like many of you might have and I also know the value of metal being a shop owner in these tough economic times and hate to see metal wasted, so I see nothing wrong with a guy practicing there hand at shaping a blade from junk lawnmower blades that are free.
When working on a new design, do you go strait to cutting up good steel to see what it's going to be like or do you go to paper first? Do most of you draw out the design on paper or even cut it out in card board first? If you shape something in junk metal, to see what it is going to turn out like first, you can always try to do it again in good steel. Time wasted? Not if you learned something. That is my point, if you are practicing shaping on junk metal, you might say it is a waist of time because that metal will never become a knife but I say if you are learning something, than you are not wasting time. If you are going to buy steel to practice on than it would make no sense buying mild steel and then I would say just get some 1084, but if you have junk steel just lying around and its free, and you need practice like any new guy does, than why not?
I respect everything you say bladsmith and many others here for that matter but I will have to stand by my opinion on this one. I don't think the goal is to make a person a pro metallurgist after there first knife. I see it as a HUGE learning curve and the first step at making a knife, is making a piece of metal resemble a knife. That in itself is a challenge and quite literally the first challenge. Learning the geometry of a blade and learning how to get both sides even with equal amounts of metal, is not easy. Getting good at shaping blades will help later on as an unevenly shaped knife, as you know is far more likely to warp and/or break during HT. Practicing your shaping skills on some free junk lawnmower blades is not a waist in anyway shape or form. In fact, you would literally be tuning waist into knowledge and experience. Once again, I don't see any reasonable logic pointing to that being a bad thing.
Emerson15, if I were you I would go to town on those junk lawnmower blades. It sounds like you already ordered some good steel (don't get me wrong this is a good thing) so as soon as you are ready, you will be set to move on to the good stuff. If you are confident than skip the lawnmower blades and don't listen to me at all LOL, I'm just a guy with little experience.
