I found some time to forge!

scottickes

scottickes

Joined
Oct 27, 2005
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Practice, practice, practice. This first one is a bird and trout knife I forged from a small 52100 bearing roller. This is my first attempt at a bird and trout style knife.

If you have suggestions, based on the appearance of the steel in the pictures that would help me, please feel free to chime in.
 
This one was made from some of my 1084/15N20 4-bar composite twist. The piece I began with was 1/4" thick X 1-1/2" wide X 3" long. It's got a real nice zigzagging pattern going on. I'm real excited about this one!
 
This one is also from a 52100 bearing roller. I used some 1/4" thick X 1-1/2" wide X 3" long stock that I had forged into flat bar from a large spherical roller last fall. I think I'm getting the hang of this stuff. I'm getting to the point that I know how much to preform for the shape that I'm hoping to achieve. I'm getting things done is less heats. I'm still thinking quite a bit, but I've learned to look at the knife before I put it into the forge, instead of after I take it out!

What do ya'll think?
 
Not bad. The last one looks nice.

HF anvil? Doesn't look too hard.

Good luck,

Alex


Also, don't make three posts when you could have made one... (unless your trying to be pimpinsquee ;) )
 
Lookin' good Scott! I can't wait to see that damascus pattern all cleaned up and etched out. From what I see in the scale on the surface it looks pretty nice.

You know, the guy who started me out in knifemaking used to hand me pieces of coil spring a little smaller than that roller and make me forge out blades from them. I didn't get to use a welder and a handle though! Try it sometime with a pair of tongs, it's a challenge for sure! :)

-d
 
It's actually from Duck's. An even smaller discount tool chain. Some day I'll have a good anvil. It's working for me so far. Here's pictures of my setup.
 
deker said:
Lookin' good Scott! I can't wait to see that damascus pattern all cleaned up and etched out. From what I see in the scale on the surface it looks pretty nice.

You know, the guy who started me out in knifemaking used to hand me pieces of coil spring a little smaller than that roller and make me forge out blades from them. I didn't get to use a welder and a handle though! Try it sometime with a pair of tongs, it's a challenge for sure! :)

-d
Click to expand...

I have tongs and use them from time to time. But, if I can weld a handle on, I do.
 
ritzblitz said:
Not bad. The last one looks nice.

HF anvil? Doesn't look too hard.

Good luck,

Alex


Also, don't make three posts when you could have made one... (unless your trying to be pimpinsquee ;) )
Click to expand...

For some reason, I can only attach five pictures per post. So I broke them up by knife.

I'll never be pimpinsquee. I'm way too big to ever see that height and weight ever again!
 
scottickes said:
For some reason, I can only attach five pictures per post.
Click to expand...

that's the way the forum is set up, you certainly didn't do anything wrong

nice work, I need to get to practicing, once the semester ends... and I get through drill weekend... and I finish ordering up more supplies... and I fix my truck...
 
deker said:
Lookin' good Scott! I can't wait to see that damascus pattern all cleaned up and etched out. From what I see in the scale on the surface it looks pretty nice.

You know, the guy who started me out in knifemaking used to hand me pieces of coil spring a little smaller than that roller and make me forge out blades from them. I didn't get to use a welder and a handle though! Try it sometime with a pair of tongs, it's a challenge for sure! :)

-d
Click to expand...

Lookin' good Scott! I can't wait to see that damascus pattern all cleaned up and etched out.
Click to expand...

For you viewing pleasure, as you requested. Partially cleaned up, just enough to be able to show the pattern.
 
Looking good, that's a great pattern you've got going on there, can't wait to see it finished.
 
wow i love that pattern. i honestly think its the best damascus pattern i have ever seen. something about it just grabs my attention and holds it. you will have to teach me how to do it sometime. its just something about the look of wood grain in metal that makes me want it. :D
 
PimpinSquee said:
wow i love that pattern. i honestly think its the best damascus pattern i have ever seen. something about it just grabs my attention and holds it. you will have to teach me how to do it sometime. its just something about the look of wood grain in metal that makes me want it. :D
Click to expand...

This is actually an easy pattern to make. This is how I made it.
  • I started by stacking 1084 and 15N20 in 15 alternating layers. The 1084 was 8 of the layers and the 15N20 was 7 of the layers. 1084 on the outsides.
  • I tack welded both ends and welded a piece of rebar on one end for a handle.
  • I then forge welded this together.
  • I then forged it out to twice the length, but kept the width the same.
  • I cut it in half, stacked it and welded it together again. (Now 30 layers.)
  • I forged it out to twice the length and kept the wide the same two more times. (That got me to 60 layers and then 120 layers.)
  • I then forged this billet down to about 3/4" square. (Like a long piece of keystock.)
  • I now had a long square bar. I cut this into four equal lengths.
  • I took the bars and heated them up to welding temperature, put one end in a pipe vise and twisted them with a "HUGE" pipe wrench. I twisted each bar the same number of times (about 4 twists per inch). I twisted two of them clock wise and two of them counter clockwise. This took about 3 heats per bar to accomplish.
  • I then forged each bar back to square, since the twisting had turned them into a spiral round bar.
  • This left me with four long bars that were about 1/2" square (like keystock again).
  • I then restacked the four bars, with a clockwise, then counter clockwise, clockwise and then lastly the final counterclockwise.
  • I tack welded the ends. Welded the rebar back to it. Then I forge welded them back together.
  • This left me with a slab about 1 foot long X 2" wide X 1/2" thick. The bar at this time has a herringbone gear look to it.
  • I took this and forged it to about 1/4" thick and about 1-1/2" wide. The bar more then doubles in length during this step, becoming almost three foot long.
  • This is the point that I start turning it into knives. As the tip is forged the pattern distorts and squeezes together. It also squeezes around the ricasso area. You can see it in the picture, earlier in this thread.

I'm posting a picture of a full tang knife I forged out of the same bar late last year.
 
Wow, that's really inspiring. I've been out of the loop for awhile and this has me getting excited again about making knives. I've got some partially finished seven layer bar to play with. I may just give this a try.
Thanks.
Ed
 
happycat said:
Wow, that's really inspiring. I've been out of the loop for awhile and this has me getting excited again about making knives. I've got some partially finished seven layer bar to play with. I may just give this a try.
Thanks.
Ed
Click to expand...

It's time consuming, but if you have the welding process down, it's not difficult. Good luck!
 
scottickes said:
This is actually an easy pattern to make. This is how I made it.
Click to expand...

Well, I had guessed the 4 bars of alternating twist bit, but I never would have guessed a layer coult as high as 120 layers prior to twisting! It's nice how you managed to keep the pattern to bold while stacking up the layers. I would have guessed about 60 layers. How thick was the stock you started with? I'm always trying to pay attention to how different thicknesses of stock affect the outcome.

Thanks for sharing Scott!

-d
 
deker said:
Well, I had guessed the 4 bars of alternating twist bit, but I never would have guessed a layer coult as high as 120 layers prior to twisting! It's nice how you managed to keep the pattern to bold while stacking up the layers. I would have guessed about 60 layers. How thick was the stock you started with? I'm always trying to pay attention to how different thicknesses of stock affect the outcome.

Thanks for sharing Scott!

-d
Click to expand...

The 1084 was .125" and the 15N20 was .093" I think. I get it from Kelly Cupples.

You also got me to try and remember back. You might be right. I made three damascus billets that day. Two of them were a ladder and a raindrop and one of them was this twist. I think I did stop at 60 layers on the twist, now that I think about it. I went to 120 layers on the other two for sure. I think it's time I started keeping a log book!
 
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