Pseudo Brut de Forge?

O

Omega Leather Works

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Jun 13, 2007
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My friend at work told me last night that he plans to make an honest woman of his er... woman. He's in his 60's and has had a fairly rough life. I'm very pleased to see him happy.

So... Naturally, I want to make a wedding cake knife for the two lovebirds. I haven't said anything because I'm not very confident in my ability to make a presentable product, but that's never stopped me from trying.

Okay, enough background. I've been reading past threads and I'm pretty sure I want to go with 1084 as I'll want to ht it myself.

I'd like to know if hammer marks and light scale would be appropriate on (what's planned to be) small flats just ahead of the ricasso (ffg), and on the ricasso itself. The main bevels will be either machined, or polished. I plan to try some faux ivory for the full tang scales, and maybe try to incorporate two rings somehow to represent their union.

How does one go about doing the look on stock removal? Just hammer away before ht?

Other questions. About how long should the blade be? The handle? Does 1084 take a high polish? I can't imagine that it doesn't, but thought I'd ask. As much as it pains me not to sharpen it, I believe a rather dull edge is appropriate, so I won't make it screaming sharp. Most likely a zero edge to something a bit sharper than a (ugh) butter knife. I can always sharpen it for them afterward.

Thanks
 
Personally, I think it's a bad idea. Every time I've seen someone try to fake the brut de forge look it looks fake.

If you really think the look is important, why not buy a blade blank from a real smith? That way the look will be real and your gift will still be largely from your own hands.
 
As far as the 1084, I think it would be a great choice, and yes it will take a high polish. You can mirror polish it if you want.

-Adam
 
I did something similar for one knife. I wouldn't really call it a fake "brut de forge," as it looks nothing like a forge finish... rather just a hammered/textured finish. I do forge, but this one was done entirely cold. Was kind of a spur-of-the-moment type thing... I just took a ball-peen and went to town on the cold bar of steel before profiling it out. After heat treatment, I just went over it lightly with high grit sandpaper to shine up the high spots.

I have mixed feelings on the results personally, but it seems to be popular among people I've shown my knives to... especially non-knife folk.

kleKXejh.jpg

More pictures.
 
Hi,
i think You can try different effects even using granite stones to the cold blank, burrs, rotary tools...etc.
As long You can imagine the result You want for Your knife, every mean is permitted in order to obtain it. Personally i forge blades, but don't get automatically that "brut de forge" look on my blades, and if i would and have to "sprinkle" scales on my anvil or use texturized face hammer, would i be "cheating"?
 
If they are going to actually cut cake with it, I' would go with a smooth high polish.


Roughness will just get caught on the cake, smear and distort it = messy cake
 
Thanks guys. I think I'll try it on a scrap piece of steel, ht it and see how it comes out.

Weebus, are you kidding? I like everything about that knife. The wharncliffe is my favorite blade shape, and while I'd consider that a modified version, it looks like it would have all of the utility with a bit of style.

Is that burlap from Shadetree? Looks very familiar. :)
 
Lovely knife, and lovely wife. :) Congratulations.

Your knife was partial inspiration for what I have pictured in my mind. I don't believe I can execute it with as much skill, and that's to be expected, but I'll do my best.
 
Strig, here's a couple shots of a knife I did with brut-de-forge "lite". IIRC I ground the blade after forging, including the ricasso, sanded the ricasso to 600, heat treated with a normalizing cycle first, then sanded the bevel out but left the ricasso with the HT scale. I think I went over it lightly with a buff maybe. It's been a while.

IMG_0027.JPG

IMG_0026.JPG
 
Oh that looks nice. Maybe a little muted for what I had in mind, but then that may look better. I really don't want it to look like a primitive knife in any way. Just with added character to dress it up. That qualifies.

I was going to ask about normalizing. With cold hammering (if I decide to go that way) is the normalization really necessary? I'm not shaping the steel so much as applying a few surface dings. I'm sure I could do the normalization, but would rather skip it if it's not necessary.
 
If the steel is cold worked, normalizing should definitely be done as part of the HT.
 
Strigamort said:
Thanks guys. I think I'll try it on a scrap piece of steel, ht it and see how it comes out.

Weebus, are you kidding? I like everything about that knife. The wharncliffe is my favorite blade shape, and while I'd consider that a modified version, it looks like it would have all of the utility with a bit of style.

Is that burlap from Shadetree? Looks very familiar. :)
Click to expand...

Haha, I'm glad. Seems to be a fairly polarizing knife. People generally seem to either love it or hate it... I think it ended up a bit tacky, but I like certain parts about it. The guy who has it now loves it, so I guess that's all that matters. One thing to keep in mind is the finish on the hammer face, as it'll imprint it directly into the steel. I just used a rather worn ball-peen, but if I were to do it again, I would probably make a specific texturing hammer to get what I was after.

The handle material is indeed from Shadetree, I believe he calls it "drunken coffee bag." Interesting stuff (also seemed to be very polarizing, haha). Wharnies and sheepsfoots (or slightly modified versions) are my favorite as well, so they're about all I make when I do small knives. I love little utility knives.

bladsmth said:
If the steel is cold worked, normalizing should definitely be done as part of the HT.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I forgot to mention that. I did indeed normalize that one as part of the heat treat regimen for that very reason.
 
Tacky. I don't see that. I'm not a huge fan of the large pin, but I do like the scales and the rest. That's cool that you also love the sheepsfoot/wharncliffe profile. Seems they are pretty popular right now, or at least that's been my observation. There was a discussion about why that is, and some think that a small wharncliffe is perfect for the urban environment where utility is the most important feature. I agree with that train of thought.

Thanks Stacy. I guess I'll get to try normalizing for the first time with that knife. Should be fun actually.
 
Here´s my tought:
You don´t want the marriage to be a bumpy ride, you want everything to go smooth....
Have the knife polished and smooth :)

This is a knife I made. It had a 2mm brass liner that I rounded. I like the looks of it. Two of those might be the wedding bands you mentioned
Naamloos.jpg
 
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