Round bar vs flat steel.

Joined
Dec 11, 2011
Messages
78
Is there any benefit to me forging out round bar into blades vs going with flat steel and doing mostly grind work? I've been hand forging everything thus far just for the satisfaction of saying I did. I could probably get everything more precise with flat steel, but that kind of takes the creative freedom out of it if you ask me.
 
The only time you need to forge round bar would be if you wanted to do an integral or if you cannot get the material in flat. I forge for the pleasure of forging, it's the only way to make damascus, and W-2 and 52100 were not readily available in flat bar .
 
Forging round bar into flat bar is a waste of time and fuel, unless you need the thickness of the round bar for an element of the knife. There is still plenty of forging to be done if you start with flat stock (bevels, tip, tang), but you don't spend your time and energy getting the raw material to the same stage as flat stock already is.
 
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