Hi,
I'm working on my second ever knife (and first forged knifed).
I've done all the forging of the blade itself that I intend to do (the rest I plant to grind) - however I'm not sure what to do with the handle/tang. Originally, I thought I'd cut & grind the handle shape rather than trying to forge it. When I forged the blade originally, I had access to a power hammer - I no longer do. I recall forging the O1 was a ton of work.
I'm looking for advice on whether I should try to forge the handle, cut it with my jig saw, cut it with my disk grinder, hot cut-it. Hot cutting it and forging it would both be new to me (I'm game to try) so I have absolutely no idea how hard it will be.
The stock I have is 3/16" (and it's nearly full thickness where the handle will start) and 2" wide. The handle itself it maybe 3/4"-1" wide, so I'd have to forge the 2" width down and draw it out quite a bit. I have approx 10 hours of blacksmithing under my belt, so that seems rather daunting.
I plan to use scales to form the handle. I do not have access to a surface grinder - so if I do try to forge it out I'll have to sand it flat with my disk or belt sander.
Any suggestions on how I should proceed from here?
Some photos are here: http://imgur.com/a/vm5r3
Note: The paper template there shows a hidden tang. I was going to do that. I still could if that's my best route, however I want the spine of the blade to be flush with the handle, not set-down like a typical Wa-handle.
I hope some of the above makes sense. Thanks in advance for any advice offered. I realize it is a rather long blade for a second effort - it just sorta happened that way. I have the stock already forged, so I figure I might as well use it all.
I'm working on my second ever knife (and first forged knifed).
I've done all the forging of the blade itself that I intend to do (the rest I plant to grind) - however I'm not sure what to do with the handle/tang. Originally, I thought I'd cut & grind the handle shape rather than trying to forge it. When I forged the blade originally, I had access to a power hammer - I no longer do. I recall forging the O1 was a ton of work.
I'm looking for advice on whether I should try to forge the handle, cut it with my jig saw, cut it with my disk grinder, hot cut-it. Hot cutting it and forging it would both be new to me (I'm game to try) so I have absolutely no idea how hard it will be.
The stock I have is 3/16" (and it's nearly full thickness where the handle will start) and 2" wide. The handle itself it maybe 3/4"-1" wide, so I'd have to forge the 2" width down and draw it out quite a bit. I have approx 10 hours of blacksmithing under my belt, so that seems rather daunting.
I plan to use scales to form the handle. I do not have access to a surface grinder - so if I do try to forge it out I'll have to sand it flat with my disk or belt sander.
Any suggestions on how I should proceed from here?
Some photos are here: http://imgur.com/a/vm5r3
Note: The paper template there shows a hidden tang. I was going to do that. I still could if that's my best route, however I want the spine of the blade to be flush with the handle, not set-down like a typical Wa-handle.
I hope some of the above makes sense. Thanks in advance for any advice offered. I realize it is a rather long blade for a second effort - it just sorta happened that way. I have the stock already forged, so I figure I might as well use it all.
