How's my forging comming?

JTknives

JTknives

Joined
Jun 11, 2006
Messages
8,651
this is the knife i forged out tonight for the Christmas knife exchange. it is L6 and has an overall length of around 12".it will be a bowie when its all said and done. I did forge a clip point on it but i allways have a hard time getting a real defined point. does any one have any tips on doing it. it is forged thick so i can grind it down and get rid of any small hammer marks or scale pits. the surface is so much better then my last forged knives. i was able to control temperature so much better and place hammer strikes much better. the knife was forged from an identical bar of steel as shown below the knife. it is 3/8" x 15/16" x 6", it was a lot of forging but it did not take to long. i used my 4 pound cross peen to do most of the drawing out and roughing in and then my 2.78 pound Japanese forging hammer to do the clean up and edge bevels. it has a distal taper from about 1/4" to a little under 1/8 i think. so far i like forging L6, it is a little harder to forge then 5160 but not bad at all. I also like working with a thicker shorter chunk of steel because it allows me to stretch and shape it as i like. there are very few hammer marks left in the blade and the ones that are there are very shallow and will remove easily. It is amazing how much i improve with each blade. thanks for looking i will get some bettor pictures when i get my camera out of my care tomorrow, its to cold right now. i will soak it in some vinigar to remove the scale before pictures as well.

sorry for the bad picture but i onley had my camera phone

1219080008.jpg
[/IMG]
 
Better than your spelling!!! :)

Looks good Jarod. The tang and ricasso look to be done nicely.

For the point, raise the tang end up and put your point in one of the front corners of the anvil. OR, you can take it down on the horn if you have one (which I know you don't yet).

Keep it up Jarod :) :thumbup:
 
Thanks, i got a ton of satisfaction for being able to shape such a large blade form that little bar of steel. I would way rather be good at knife making then spelling ;)
 
Jarod, this is what I meant by the corner of the anvil. I have it laid down to straighten it in this pic, but you can see what I meant.

standard.jpg


And here's the blade done... there's guys that can do better... but there isn't much profile grinding to do on one like this. :)
standard.jpg
 
thanks for looking i will get some bettor pictures when i get my camera out of my care tomorrow, its to cold right now. i will soak it in some vinigar to remove the scale before pictures as well.
Click to expand...

Won't soaking the camera in vinegar ruin it?:rolleyes:
 
Jarod, I lightened up your pic a bit and looked at it again... it looks like you could benefit from smoothing the edges of your hammer face with your belt grinder.

Those dings in the blade near the spine can be a real bear to grind out. I know you left extra to cover that, but it's easier to not have to grind them out if you don't have to. :)

Also, think of your body as a power hammer. Move your body in a rhythmic motion, trying to bring the hammer to the anvil with a consistent motion each time. Move the steel under the hand hammer, much akin to the way it's done under power, and you'll find yourself with a smoother forging.

BTW- You could clean up that tip on the anvil and gain a little length if you want :)

I'm glad you're having fun with it Jarod! :D
 
when i forge the point i get the little corner tits that show up and try and fold over them selves if i don't keep on top of them. the hammer i have is all flat except around the edge which is rounded.
 
Jarod,
The first thing you forge out when starting a bar, is the point. Use backward facing blows , not downward blows.You strike the corner so as to push it back into the bar, then turn the bar sideways and draw that extra thickness out into a point. Keep backforging and drawing. Once the tip is shaped to a 45 degree arc....without fish lips....then forge the bar into the knife. Not forming the fish lips is a sign of understanding how to move the metal. Of course the easier way is to just grind off the final 1/2" of the tip and remove the lips....but that is not necessary once the technique is mastered. Be aware that the curvature and stresses in the steel grain goes back a bit into the tip when the end is folded down into the lips, so if it happens, grind back about 1/4" past the lip.
Looking good, though.
Stacy

I am trying to get your box out Monday, but it is a zoo right now at work.
Stacy
 
thanks stacy, i guess it's good to be busy with work in this day and age. the economy right now is hurting lots of people so its good to have a reliable job so that you are able to provide for the family.
 
Your forging would be working out better for you if you went ahead and got that W-2 for all of us.;)
- Mitch
 
If I were you I'd just stop forging altogether :P Looks pretty good, The point could be done better, when I finally learned to forge a point in I noticed that my forging overall became better.

Edited to add:

Nick, just noticed your tongs..... heck yeah!!!! :D I was getting ready to forge out some box tongs cause my tongs are sucky but after looking at yours I'm going to weld on some of that scrap angle iron I've got sitting around :D THANKS
 
NickWheeler said:
Jarod, this is what I meant by the corner of the anvil. I have it laid down to straighten it in this pic, but you can see what I meant.

standard.jpg


And here's the blade done... there's guys that can do better... but there isn't much profile grinding to do on one like this. :)
standard.jpg
Click to expand...

is that a knife drawing on your anvil, is that so your anvil know what the knife should look like when it's done :jerkit:
 
Will nailed it! Oh, and you're welcome on the tong idea Will, glad I could help!!! :) I have some Tom Clark Z-box tongs now, but I still use the ones in the pic for some stuff. I was going to weld them up in line with the jaws, but if they're on the side like that, you can choke up on long pieces :)

Jarod, forging out whatever strikes you is a lot of fun, but once you get customers that are expecting a finished knife that will lay over top of an agreed upon drawing... you'll start forging to a drawing :)

Forging a knife like object is pretty easy, learning to forge one to a drawing is a good skill builder (IMHO) :)

In this case, they wanted a "Marbles-esque" but bigger. I made the sketch on paper, and then transferred it to my anvil face with a sharpie :D


Edited to add: Here's my Great-grandfather's old Marbles hunter which I used for the inspiration, the sketch, and the piece of 1084 that was destined to be the blade.

standard.jpg




This is the knife from all the pics, finished up :)

standard.jpg
 
Last edited:
Thanks Ryan!

It's mortised Ironwood scales, and the spacers are maroon Micarta that I milled down, as well as the ss, which is 416.

When I couldn't get an integral done that I wanted to for my Js test, I used this hunter instead for one of my five :)
 
what do u mean by mortised nick?....don't wanna derail the thread....sorry jt....ryan
 
JTknives said:
does any one have any tips on doing it.
Click to expand...



I learned a lot from Tim Lively's knifemaking unplugged video; what he did was cut the billet into the basic 'spear' shape before even laying a hammer to it. I've done it with a couple of knives and it works pretty well in maintaining the desired shape at the tip. Tim hot cuts in the video with the help of another person but I just use a cutoff disc on the angle grinder.
 
ya i have watched that video and it is good. but i would like to use that material not just cut it off. the less cutting and grinding i have to do the more material i save.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top