Have you even seen a knife's belly button?

Raymond Richard

Raymond Richard

Joined
Jun 17, 2001
Messages
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You just got to know where to look.

I though I'd take you through what I do when I hand forge a knife and thought I do it like a WIP. All of the work that I'll be doing through these photo's was done with a 5 pound hammer, Godzilla, my 150 Trenton, and of course my propane forge. Also some tongs to.


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I'm starting out with a piece of 1" round L-6 that is 4 1/2" long.

Out of that 4 1/2" I'll segregate 1" that will become the tang. Most the hammering I am doing now is with me striking Godzilla with the hammer. I'll take this knob and turn it into 2 knobs, and then into 3 and 4 knobs.

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I have now hammered the tang round and will leave it this way till I'm further along in the forging process. I will add a flat end to it just so I can grip it better with the tongs.
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This is where I stopped cause the propane bottle froze up and its a good place to take a break. I have flattened out the sides of the bar some now and indented where I want the back of the blade to stop. All lot of time will now be spent drawing out the bar. I'll be using Godzilla and the big hammer for most of that to.
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I can hardly see my own belly-button, it looks downwards and the farther over I lean, the further away it seems to get :eek:

In all seriousness, thank you for sharing your process :)
 
You do much more with your Godzilla than I ever dreamed of. I'll have to take more advantage of my version. Watching patiently
 
Robert Dark said:
So, just how long does it take a Propane bottle to thaw? Patiently waiting Big Boy.

Robert
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Pretty long Big Boy. What sounds better, propane bottle froze up or old man needs a break?

I got to work on the stretching party. Still go more today. Right now the thickness of the blade is about 1/2". I'd like to get it down to 3/8". Right now there's about 6" of blade. By the time I get the barn thinned down and pre formed it will be around 8" or a little longer. Its going to be a good sized knife blade when its all done.

Old man feeding Godzilla. This tool really makes it possible for me to forge especially with these larger chunks of steel. Basically All I'm doing is indenting the steel with Godzilla. After I have that the whole length I'll then start hammering with my big straight peen hammer. The one that's around 5 pounds.
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Just a few pictures along the way. This is the pretty boring part of the hand forging. Once I have the preform totally done things will start changing pretty fast. Kinda fast.
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Thanks Ray, Really appreciate seeing how to Big Boys do it. Know I am going to pick up a few tricks on this one.
 
I'm sure glad you pointed out the bellybutton. I might have mistaken it for something else! Last time I saw one of your WIP threads you were wearing shorts and sandals. THANKS for taking the time to share. Oh, and a happy new year Gramps!
 
joe444 said:
forgive me guys, but what is a WIP?
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It means work in progress. sometimes a maker will graciously take the time to document his process with pictures.
Following this one with all the others. Looking good so far. I would love to try an integral bolster, however I dont forge so would be quite an undertaking. I cant wait to see the finished blade.
 
I just finished the rough forging. I've still got a fair amount of tuning up on the blade but its pretty much there.

I stretched the steel out some more. Just need to smooth it off and start shaping the pre form.
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This is the preform.
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I'm going to be doing a double bevel blade so I'm only going to be forging halfway down the blade. Also all the hammer work I will be doing will be done with a rounded over cross peen hammer. It moves steel faster with less bending.
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I did more forging on the bottom bevel in this photo.
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I just started the top bevel. Can you see how it brought the tip down?
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Here's the blade now after forging. I didn't measure the blade but I'd say its close to 9".
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Nothing other than Godzilla and hammers have been used on the blade so far. I'll probably clean up the profile with the grinder next and then take a real good look at the blade before I go any further.
 
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Good job Ray! :)

How do you clean out the belly button?
 
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