I think I like this knife making thing...

69_knives

69_knives

Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
1,855
Well, except for the Spiderman finger... my right middle finger locked up so tight against the palm of my hand it looked like I was trying to shoot a spiderman web. Had to pry it open with my other hand, so yeah, that was weird. Not sure what's with the cramping but, I banged out another blade tonight.

This is the style that I'm going use to make the replicas of my grandma's knives. I gues sI should really dig the actual knife out of storage to really compare but I do think this is pretty close.

I would have liked this blade to have turned out a bit longer and not as wide but I was having a tough time getting it to stretch out. I switched to the 6# sledge and that made it move quite a bit easier than the 3.5#...

Anyway, this blade is 12.75" OA, 8.25" x 1.8" x 0.120" blade, 4.5" handle.

blade2002-0.jpg


blade2001-0.jpg


blade2003-0.jpg


Thanks for looking.
 
You are gripping your hammer too tight, you should grip with a light but firm grip, let the hammer do the work! Also, you are using WAY too big a hammer. Instead of going heavier, go to a lighter hammer and hit more hits instead.
 
Last edited:
Here is a good example of a lighter hammer and more blows. His anvil looks a bit high, but he's a professional bladesmith in Mexico or South America and must have a personal preference for the height. In general, you want the anvil surface about fist high.

Also notice how his hammer falls straight down and the steel doesn't bow as he's hammering. If your hammer blows come down at an angle you can cause the steel to bend up, or down, as you are forging. It's easy to hammer it back to flat, however I've found that when I have a blade curl several times during the forging process, it is more susceptible to warping during heat treat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZEoP48EKTE&feature=related

Look'n good. Things are coming along nicely.
 
Last edited:
Nice job, getting better with each one. Maybe you could show me how to bang one out in the future.:thumbup:
-frank
 
Nice video but the guy is doing a lot of cold forging.... Must make a lot of money though cause that Nimba anvil aint cheap.......
 
I'll bet he's a firm believer in edge packing. He appears to do most of the cold forging along the edge. From what I understand, it's a bit of a myth. I'm always worried about causing micro cracks that won't show up until the quench, so I avoid cold forging.

69 Knives, a preform will help you shape the blade a little easier, especially towards the tip. Get yourself a copy of Wayne Goddard's $50 knife shop book. I found it to be indispensable when starting out. In fact, I still refer to it often.
 
Preform or make a whompin stick or wooden mallet. I use both, got an old wooden bat barrel and ground part of it down to handle size and made a wooden mallet. Wood will move the metal without "moving" (smooshing) metal.

I'm a big guy (6'1 and 260# or so) and the biggest hammer I swing is a 4#, I mainly use a 3# hammer. If your anvil has decent to good rebound learn to relax on the swing down and up and only really grasp the handle right before it strikes. You can kinda practice this just standing or sitting around although you'll look crazy. Just swing your hand down and tighten at the bottom of the stroke.

Looks good though.
 
Much better today. Must be just my day job turning me into a pussy :)

Anyway, I appreciate all the comments and tips. I'm still using the 6# hammer for a lot of the work especially stretching out the steel, I'll post a before and after pic of the metal I started with. I'm kind of using a motion where I let the hammer drop and pull at the same time which gives me a 'glancing blow' and if the metal is really hot, I can actually see it getting longer.

I may have messed up the final annealing on that blade yesterday so when I did today's blade, I re-did the one from yesterday, just waiting on those now.

I don't know what I did differently today but I couldn't get the blade to curve like yesterday so I made it a bit bigger so I can shape it by grinding. :)

blades001-0.jpg
 
Last edited:
Looking good. I use a 2# hammer most of the time. I found that I don't mess up as much as quick. Also after 30 years as a mechanic I have some wrist and shoulder pain. The 2# is allot easier on an old guy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top