Gents,
My son (9) has been badgering me for WEEKS that he wants to forge a knife. $7 worth of quickcrete, some scrap iron, and my little bronze foundry and he was doing this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kw_GTcXBKU
Note that this is the first time either of us has done anything that even resembles non-lathe or non-casting related "metal work". Soooo....what next?
Specifically, are there any books out there that talk about FORGING knives? I've looked through knifemaking at the library, and the entire section can be summed up as "The 37 different types of Grinders and 10000 ways to use them". We have a bench grinder, which my son is afraid of and which I don't want him using (he's nine). We also have a wet grinder (the jet version of the Tormek). That thing is so fast he'll be in college before this project is done.
I know he'll have to grind some, but I want him basically to be able to forge to the last possible point, then finish up on the bench stones (we have DMT black to Shapton cream). But I don't know how to proceed from this point. Where we left off was the blade isn't quite flat (which he'll fix by pounding), and did some grinding for him on the bench grinder to form a Bowie-esque shape blade profile.
Last question: what is the thinnest that you can hone the blade to while it's soft without risking burning up the edge or otherwise ruining it during hardening/tempering?
My son (9) has been badgering me for WEEKS that he wants to forge a knife. $7 worth of quickcrete, some scrap iron, and my little bronze foundry and he was doing this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kw_GTcXBKU
Note that this is the first time either of us has done anything that even resembles non-lathe or non-casting related "metal work". Soooo....what next?
Specifically, are there any books out there that talk about FORGING knives? I've looked through knifemaking at the library, and the entire section can be summed up as "The 37 different types of Grinders and 10000 ways to use them". We have a bench grinder, which my son is afraid of and which I don't want him using (he's nine). We also have a wet grinder (the jet version of the Tormek). That thing is so fast he'll be in college before this project is done.
I know he'll have to grind some, but I want him basically to be able to forge to the last possible point, then finish up on the bench stones (we have DMT black to Shapton cream). But I don't know how to proceed from this point. Where we left off was the blade isn't quite flat (which he'll fix by pounding), and did some grinding for him on the bench grinder to form a Bowie-esque shape blade profile.
Last question: what is the thinnest that you can hone the blade to while it's soft without risking burning up the edge or otherwise ruining it during hardening/tempering?
Then moving on to forging. And trust me, I am a HUGE proponent of the art of forging. It runs deep in my blood! But it's jumping in the deep end of the pool. It takes a whole new set of skills and tools to forge a blade (which you are obviously well on your way to having).