My first few blades

G

goddamnkeen

Joined
Jan 18, 2015
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Hello all. I just finally got registered on here and thought I'd share what I've been doing so far in this area of the forum. All of my blades thus far have been 52100 forged from bearings out of an oil rig mud pump. I follow the protocols put forth by Ed Fowler and have been achieving great results. Low temp forging (just past non-magnetic, very fine scale) . After I forge to shape each blade receives 3 35 second quenches in Texaco Type A followed by 3 normalization cycles (non-mag back down to room temp in still air) Then anneal and profile, complete the plunges and primary grind. Then i complete 3 hardening cycles with O/A. 24 hrs in the freezer in between each cycle. Then I make use of Ed's Paragon for 3 tempering cycles. Complete the convex grind and hand sand to 1000 gr to finish. Etch in ferric chloride and re-sand any small scratches the etch brings out. Re etch and move to soldering the guard. I went to the ranch and was pretty pleased with how the heat treat came out so far. The large 5 in. blade made 250 cuts on 3/8 sisal rope. The smaller blades made 350 before i gave up with the short tang. The skinner did a great job making 400 cuts before the 3 of us were worn out. Edge flexed on brass rod. Thank you all for looking and I look forward to some constructive criticism and learning and sharing with everyone!
 
If these are your first, you're off to a heck of a start! Way better than my first... lol... I don't have any criticism(s) to offer because I'm only a few blades deep myself, but I will say that I'm a big fan of the sweeping ricasso you've got going on. From an artistic point of view there's good movement and elegant execution. Looks like a sharp little slice machine... :D

We're also reading the same material, I just don't have a pyrometer so I'm not very successful at staying within those tight parameters of "low temp" when forging. My visual understanding of temp is pretty good, but differences in ambient light kinda make that a crapshoot. By the way welcome to bladeforums!

I definitely look forward to seeing the end product of these initial blades, and many more in the near future. Putting yourself out there asking for critique is probably the most earnest way to progress yourself. The people that chime in with the specifics are great teachers and very supportive of us newbs. Thanks for sharing!
 
Great forging work and I really like how smooth you got all the edges. What do you use to sharpen the blade with and what is your process?
 
SinePari, thanks alot bud! Post your stuff up or shoot me a link, I'd love to check it out. I don't have any fancy equipment either. In order to keep tabs on my temp while forging I go based on color like yourself, I also have a magnet suspended from the ceiling between the forge and my anvil which I periodically pass the blade under to ensure I'm not going too cold and I watch my scale as I forge and keep it as minimal and fine as I can. As long as I stay hot enough to pass the magnet test and my scale is fine I'm right in there. Thanks for looking and I'm glad to be here so far!

J-von, Thank you! My sharpening process isn't anything special. Fine India stone and Simple Green. lol. I make passes on the stone the full length of the blade with decent pressure until I feel the "wire" edge along the whole length going both directions and then a couple passes with lighter and lighter pressure to sluff it off. I would periodically "strop" the blade on the heel of my hand during the cutting test to get rid of rope fibers. But that's about it.

Ricky- You read it right. :thumbup:
 
You got me reading about Ed now and so I have a question......What was Ed's process to get "The back of the blade soft"?

Thanks for the great information in your post! I really enjoyed reading about this.
 
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You don't really get it soft. The blades are edge quenched during hardening making discernable "layers" of hardness that you can see in the etch. The spine never comes to non magnetic and doesn't get quenched leaving it more or less in an annealed state.
 
Blades look to have interesting shapes. I'll be interested in seeing how the finished knives come out. Nice work, indeed.
 
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