I'd like to pick your brains

clemsonreeder

clemsonreeder

Joined
Sep 25, 2007
Messages
176
I am in the process of making my first knife. Here it is.
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I haven't HT it yet...still figuring out the best/simplest/cheapest way to make a forge. Any suggestions for a first timer are welcome :D In the meantime, I am thinking ahead about the scales. I have some red oak, anybody have any experience/opinion about it? Any other suggestions? Any comments greatly appreciated.
 
Sorry, completely forgot the details... 1095 steel, 1/8" thick, blade length 4-3/8", overall length 9.25"
 
As a new maker you may be better off asking someone here on the forum to HT it for you. Several here will do it for a price that would figure to less than 20 bucks with shipping both ways. Whatever you use for handle material make sure if it is real wood, that it is stabilized. No sense in putting that much work into something that is not.
Good Luck:thumbup:
Matt Doyle
 
Nice blade. I Heat treated my knife in a camp fire at a friends cabin and quenched in canola oil (O-1 steel). turned out nice. Oak I find to be too porous, and a knife like that should have a fancier looking wood! I am fortunate enough to have a huge wack of 1/4" electrical micarta at my house. I got a sample of really neat looking hardwood floor that should turn out nice for a knife (needs planing [and stabilization]). I also went to a welding supply place and they gave me a free stainless arc welding rod and the flux broke right off, in case you need pin material. have fun!:thumbup:
 
charcoal is easy enough. I hacked a propane pipe forge for heat treating (modification of the one brick idea) and it's okay but charcoal is better for me right now.

I've done some oak handles with home stabilizing (soaking in wood hardener) and don't have any problems. You could hit up shadetree phenolics and get just about any look you desire, I've played with some samples and it's great stuff.

For pins I have used worn 1/8 drill bits, 1/8 brass welding rod, and nails all successfully.

make trial pins! fit and work the handle and take it off and work it down to perfect and fit it up again- my biggest hassle is when I don't have the front part of a handle perfect before I glue up.

It's a REALLY nice first blade.
 
Easiest forge is a small one-brick propane forge, more than enough to ht 10-12 inch knives.
Take a soft firebrick, hollow it out to a coarse oval lengthwise.
Smooth the oval with a half round rasp.
Make two holes at one third-length from each end at a tangent with the inner oval cavity.
Use two MAPP gas burners in the holes to fire the forge.
Keep the gas tanks in water to avoid freezing of the tank due to evaporation of the liquid gas.
Use iron wire to bind the brick as it may easily crack.
 
Considering the time you will have in on your knife, spend a little money and get a fancier handle material. Oak in my opinion will be really boring.

TR
 
Good job on the forge.

It looks like you didn't put any covering over the kaowool, be careful, untreated kaowool will allow fine particles to escape while the forge is operating. I believe those particles are a carcinogen.
 
I heat treat 1095 all the time but I use a firebrick house and a acetylene torch. I have not been able to get a even heat with a propane torch with a blade that size. You can be 5-6 firebrick from a pottery supply for about $5 each.

Check out the forge plans that Indian George has posted, http://indiangeorgesknives.com/building_a_forge.html I am makeing one of those right now. I do have another 10"d x 18" pipe that I will part with but may be too expensive to mail.
 
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