hi guys am new yadda yadda

L

leonard

Joined
Nov 18, 2005
Messages
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hello all i am new at this knife making business but am trying hard i started out with stock removal on old srcap metal i find at old deserted industrial site here in town and have found some good metal and some crap it is definitely fine and time consuming i am planning to build an open fire forge in the back yard this summer i have some experience with working horshoes on my dads farm as a boy and am hoping to learn by trial and error on real forging i would appreciate any advice you guys might lend me on the open fire forge you might have as when i did work horseshoes it was with a portable propane unit thanks heaps
 
Welcome to Bladeforums, Leonard! Enjoy!:thumbup:

Someone else will have to give you the forging info as I don't do it.:eek::D
 
leonard said:
hello all i am new at this knife making business but am trying hard i started out with stock removal on old srcap metal i find at old deserted industrial site here in town and have found some good metal and some crap it is definitely fine and time consuming i am planning to build an open fire forge in the back yard this summer i have some experience with working horshoes on my dads farm as a boy and am hoping to learn by trial and error on real forging i would appreciate any advice you guys might lend me on the open fire forge you might have as when i did work horseshoes it was with a portable propane unit thanks heaps
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Look up Tai Goo. He's the zen master of neo-tribal metalsmithing.

Also look up Tim Lively. He made a video on a pretty decent washtub charcoal forge, and its a good place to start.

Another thing to look up would be the "One-Brick Forge"

The best site you will find that contains all this info will be the site managed by Dan Gray : www.knivesby.com/ it'll have all the info you will ever need for quite a few years.

Good luck!
 
Check out this site too alot of good info there the best I have found.http://gbrannon.bizhat.com/#links I personally have made a version of the washtub forge from Tim Lively's website used concrete instead of adobe and my forced air comes from a hair dryer It works great but I caught the forging bug and I am already scrounging up parts for a gas forge. But just to try it out and save money try the washtub forge and see if you catch the bug too.


Ken
 
I was always worried about using concrete in the forge because I thought it might crack and then be a real pain to fix. How's yours holding up? Any cracks?
 
Glad to have you here Tim. Great bunch of guys here. Just beware of this guy named Indian George. Other than that it's a great forum. Post pics if ya got em.
 
Thanks!
I know George from years past on the forums. Seems like my kind of folk.
I have a piece o crap Gateway computer and still running Windows 98. The thing sort of works half the time. Now it won't let me change the size of my display screen and wont let me in photo deluxe at all so I havent been able to post photos in a while. I dont spend much time on the internet anymore anyway so Im not willing to spend the money on a new one yet.
Still the same ole knife freak though.
 
Make sure, if you want to work with scrap steel, that it can be
hardened, before putting your time into it.

Take a smaller piece and try heat-treating it.
 
I did a fair bit of charcoal forging in a hand wind forge they are good because when you stop turning the handle the heat drops off and you don't burn all your fuel.You can make a huge fire and really burn through the charcoal. But after a while you realize you only need to heat the blade or part of the blade your working not the whole back yard and neighbourhood.

After a while you will be able to make a bucked (8 litres capacity) last for hours not minutes. You may loose a little time not having a masive fire but if cheap is your theam it works. A small fire also allows you to heat just one section of the blade or object you are working on that has advantages from time to time when you don't wont a section to twist and another to twist.
I made a lot od spiral handles and shaped heads.

Again with the steel I collected a heap of steel for free every where and still do. However if stock removal is your thing and no grinder. I would go see the local spring maker and see if you can buy a bit of annealed spring steel.

Ask to buy some off cuts sometimes you get them for free somenmes it is actually cheaper to buy a length.
Good luck
 
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