Making wider flatbar by forging smaller pieces together ?

D

Dr Feelgood

Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Messages
71
Ive run into a problem thats quickly crushing my lifelong dream of being a knife maker.
There is nowhere to get steel. I know theres Aldo and theres Rob at Canadianknifemaker both great guys and great service but they dont seem to carry what I need.The problem is I have projects in mind and keep getting requests for blades of certain sizes and specific steels. So I cant raid old leaf springs because its hard to tell what composition the steel is. I need a fair bit of 5160, and 1084. All I can find is 2" flat stock and I need 4-6 inch wide. Ive watched Steel baron for a few years and the materials I need are always sold out. Rob has 2 inch wide stock that would work great if it was wider. Im just getting into forging. Is it possible to forge pieces of 2" stock together to make it wider or will that have an effect on the strength and structure of the steel where its weld forged together ? My life as a maker is grinding to a halt (no pun intended) lol unless I can find what I need and a way to get it here in Canada. Please help !
 
It seems odd that not being able to find steel 6" wide is bringing your dreams of knifemaking to a halt. Have you made any at all yet? Why do you need steel that wide?
And no, forge welding more pieces to add width is not the answer.
 
Aldo will sell you steel in any width up to 30".....call him.

He lists 5160 as wide as 4" on his site, and 1084 up to 16" wide, but he can shear the plate any width needed.
 
Haha thanks! Your right I was probably being a bit melodramatic thats me :D I have made a few blades since I started but never completed one. Cant say why... But I guess coming to a halt was a bad choice of words. I keep moving ahead but its slooooow. I do get quite stressed because from my location I can never seem to find the odds and ends im looking for.
I will give Aldo a call.
Thanks!
 
Salem Straub said:
And no, forge welding more pieces to add width is not the answer.
Click to expand...

Could you elaborate on that ? I was thinking of cutting and stacking the flatbar and forge welding the stack sort of like the step in making pattern welded. Then must hammering it to the size and shape needed. Do you mean its not efficient as far as time and cost or it changes the steel too much ? I think it loses some carbon but im too new to forging to know what other effect it would have. Thanks again!
 
Admiral Steel lists 5160 up to 5" wide.

One of the beauties of forging is you can bend the steel -- you may not need to start with super wide steel.
 
It's not efficient at all, would be way too expensive in terms of time and materials. And, it would take significant skill.

You would have the very real danger of any of those welds not being fully bonded, and coming apart in subsequent forging or heat treating. Then, you'd have to thermal cycle the steel thoroughly to reduce the grain from that welding heat.

That's the kind of trouble and risk I only see as worth it if you're getting some awesome pattern out of your billet that will make you lots of money on a knife.
 
Salem Straub said:
It's not efficient at all, would be way too expensive in terms of time and materials. And, it would take significant skill.

You would have the very real danger of any of those welds not being fully bonded, and coming apart in subsequent forging or heat treating. Then, you'd have to thermal cycle the steel thoroughly to reduce the grain from that welding heat.

That's the kind of trouble and risk I only see as worth it if you're getting some awesome pattern out of your billet that will make you lots of money on a knife.
Click to expand...

Right on thats exactly what I was wondering. Thanks for clearing that up !
 
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