Hudson Bay belt axe project (probably pic heavy)

Your unfinished work already looks better than this finished example from a Chinese manufacturer:

all-kinds-of-steel-forged-axe-for.jpg_350x350.jpg
 
phantomknives said:
sPCNdQs.jpg

you can tell which one was done with my off hand or in an awkward position. still have a bit of clean up on the top bevel. i tried to deepen the notch with my grinder but it didnt work that well. I convexed the cheeks with my sanding disk. the marker is there to better show where the bevels start/end
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Looking good, hope the steel is semi decent as to be worth the work.
 
Phantomknives,there's a longish dark line,parallel to the bevel,and a bit higher than your new ground bevel...It's not a crack,or a fissure,by chance?
(hope not,and that it's a photo defect of some kind).
That fragment that broke off the edge is actually a valuable asset-you can use it as a test-piece for HT.Well,you do have that cut-off portion also,a good deal.
I'd recommend experimenting with a small tab of that very material,to see if the grain structure can be made finer,and also how well it'll harden,and in what medium.
Best of luck with the completion of your project.

Btw,the fact that this axe may've originated in China does NOT mean that metallurgically it's crap.I've had decent luck using fragments of busted no-name china axes for blading the WI et c axes,and general use as med.C steel.
It's commonly some simple,10xx-ish alloy,responding well to a triple-normalising cycle for grain reduction.
 
Hickory n steel said:
Looks good.
What are you going to do next ?
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Anneal, normalize a few times, then quench in water, it's a relatively soft steel so I think the water will be fine. Afterwards a good bronze-ish temper is in order I think

jake pogg said:
Phantomknives,there's a longish dark line,parallel to the bevel,and a bit higher than your new ground bevel...It's not a crack,or a fissure,by chance?
(hope not,and that it's a photo defect of some kind).
That fragment that broke off the edge is actually a valuable asset-you can use it as a test-piece for HT.Well,you do have that cut-off portion also,a good deal.
I'd recommend experimenting with a small tab of that very material,to see if the grain structure can be made finer,and also how well it'll harden,and in what medium.
Best of luck with the completion of your project.

Btw,the fact that this axe may've originated in China does NOT mean that metallurgically it's crap.I've had decent luck using fragments of busted no-name china axes for blading the WI et c axes,and general use as med.C steel.
It's commonly some simple,10xx-ish alloy,responding well to a triple-normalising cycle for grain reduction.
Click to expand...
Will do, those scraps from the cutting should do nicely.

No, it's not a crack, I scratched it with a file to see where the HT stopped. If I can't drop the grain size, I'll leave the bit a bit thick
 
phantomknives said:
No, it's not a crack, I scratched it with a file to see where the HT stopped.
Click to expand...

I may not be telling you anything that you don't know already,but just in case:A scratch like this,by acting as a "stress-riser"(-concentrator),may well ruin that piece in the quench....If ever you can,try to file it flush again....(and not allow any deep scratches or file-marks prior to quench;normally an even(-ish) 120 grit min. is recommended.

phantomknives said:
If I can't drop the grain size
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You SHOULD be able to,there's no reason why it wouldn't do that...One never knows,of course, with recyclables,but it Ought!!!
Best of luck,again.
 
DfIb43C.jpg

Remember that birch from a few weeks ago?
ELY5J7O.jpg

It seems in my ignorance, I filed this saw for birch. It cuts great though, that's about 1/10" thick
 
Trying for an anneal tonight, I threw it in the fireplace burning oak and hickory, waited for it to burn down and now it's on top of the fireplace Cooling down, tomorrow I'll let you know how it turns out
 
Ahm...You know,technically,today,Annealing has been superceeded by Normalising,it takes care of everything that Annealing was meant to(other than some machining issues that you'll not have use for).
Also,that kind-an uncontrolled-anneal,has virtually no benefits to the process(like all other HT processes it must be done very exactly,according to the specs of the specific ally).

But,how do you mean,for the Anneal to "not work"?
 
jake pogg said:
Ahm...You know,technically,today,Annealing has been superceeded by Normalising,it takes care of everything that Annealing was meant to(other than some machining issues that you'll not have use for).
Also,that kind-an uncontrolled-anneal,has virtually no benefits to the process(like all other HT processes it must be done very exactly,according to the specs of the specific ally).

But,how do you mean,for the Anneal to "not work"?
Click to expand...

i'v been told to anneal means to soften the steel. its still just as hard. if anything i probably normalized it poorly
 
Well,the "softness" is not really anything that you'll need in order to HT that axe.

Let me remind you briefly what Normalising consists of(usually):3 cycles altogether.
1.Heat to just above Critical,or A1.
2.Heat to just Crit.,as you can best aim at it.
3.Heat to just below Crit.
Each time,after heating,allow to cool in Still air,just set it aside....To black,(no longer visible)heat,before the next cycle.

What it'll do is essentially what Anneal was used for in the past:It dissolves the grains,and the new grains will nucleate,and grow,from the intergranular boundaries.
In effect Refining your grain-size,which was your aim,right?After this,you could heat it once again,to just past Crit.,hold maybe a minute at temp(no more,as that's when the grain will begin to grow again),and quench.And then temper.And you're Done!:)

I do apologise if this advise is not only unsolicited but unwelcome...
 
jake pogg said:
Well,the "softness" is not really anything that you'll need in order to HT that axe.

Let me remind you briefly what Normalising consists of(usually):3 cycles altogether.
1.Heat to just above Critical,or A1.
2.Heat to just Crit.,as you can best aim at it.
3.Heat to just below Crit.
Each time,after heating,allow to cool in Still air,just set it aside....To black,(no longer visible)heat,before the next cycle.

What it'll do is essentially what Anneal was used for in the past:It dissolves the grains,and the new grains will nucleate,and grow,from the intergranular boundaries.
In effect Refining your grain-size,which was your aim,right?After this,you could heat it once again,to just past Crit.,hold maybe a minute at temp(no more,as that's when the grain will begin to grow again),and quench.And then temper.And you're Done!:)

I do apologise if this advise is not only unsolicited but unwelcome...
Click to expand...
Is there some kind of Blacksmithing 101 pdf booklet that you can advise? thanks
 
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