Take Down Fighter Work In Progress

standard.jpg


Now I am relighting my forge to begin the process of forging my blade to shape.

standard.jpg


Here I am setting up my rolling mill in order to roll my bar stock to a perfect thickness. I am clamping the freshly ground bar in my mill as a place to start. If you will notice I have a dial indication mounted to this machine on the left hand side. With this I know EXACTLY how many thousands thick my bar is. This allows me to forge my bar to a thickness that doesn't allow for waste or allow me to forge to far and get to thin.

standard.jpg


Cranking the mill down to the right thickness.

standard.jpg


Rolling the hot billet out

standard.jpg


Straightening the blade out after rolling.

standard.jpg

More straightening

standard.jpg


Blade stock forged to correct thickness and ready to forge to shape. This stock is forged to .210 and will be surface ground to .190 once I've forged it to shape.
 
standard.jpg


Here I am forging the tang of the blade out.

standard.jpg


standard.jpg


I am now beginning to forge the blade to a point

standard.jpg


standard.jpg


I made a template out of mild steel to have as a pattern to forge to. You can see it laying on my anvil.

standard.jpg


standard.jpg


standard.jpg


Here I am checking my pattern to see if I have a enough steel to make the blade.

standard.jpg


Once the blade is forged to shape I thermal cycle the steel to help relieve stress on the blade from the forging process.
 
Thanks for taking the time Josh. Taking and explaining all these photos definitely adds a measure of complexity to the project.
 
This is a privilege to witness. VERY informative.

Who's your camera partner?

Coop
 
Josh, you have nice taste in hats. I have one too! Oh wait..

I loved that bowie from the 10 seconds I got to spend with it in person. Thanks for taking the time to put this together.
 
I love these threads.

Thanks for taking the time to post, it's a real treat to follow the process
 
On the first page, in the picture where it shows the billet c clamped just prior to welding, your hammer laying there has the handle cut out. Please take a moment to explain what puspose it serves if any.

Chuck
 
chuckinohio said:
On the first page, in the picture where it shows the billet c clamped just prior to welding, your hammer laying there has the handle cut out. Please take a moment to explain what puspose it serves if any.

Chuck
Click to expand...

It's meant to deaden vibration thus reducing fatigue on the hammer hand.

I'm curious why it's such a long slot, the way I've always seen it done is to drill a 1/4 hole 2 - 3 inches below the head and using a thin blade cut a slot up to the head.

Josh - have you found that the longer and wider slot works better?
 
Josh thanks for taking the time to document this build. Great pics and explanations.
 
Thanks for the comments. Coop I actually set up my camera on a tripod and set the timer on every shot. No one was around to take shots for me. Thanks for the compliments.
 
joshsmith said:
Coop I actually set up my camera on a tripod and set the timer on every shot. No one was around to take shots for me.
Click to expand...

Josh

That makes me appreciate this WIP all the more. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

I learn from the process as well as what is going on in the background of the photos. You have a very efficient shop layout and I really like what appears to be a common hydraulic power unit for both the rolling mill and the press. Do you have a valve to switch between the 2, or do you just switch hoses?

Thank you again
Brian
 
Josh,

This is an excellent thread and I look forward to seeing more. I have always loved knives and over the last couple of years have gotten to a point where I could start collecting decent blades. Your work is amazing, as is the work most who make custom blades. Making the damascus was pretty cool stuff. Awesome blades on the website.

SB
 
BrianThie said:
Josh

That makes me appreciate this WIP all the more. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

I learn from the process as well as what is going on in the background of the photos. You have a very efficient shop layout and I really like what appears to be a common hydraulic power unit for both the rolling mill and the press. Do you have a valve to switch between the 2, or do you just switch hoses?

Thank you again
Brian
Click to expand...


Brian,

The press and rolling mill are all hooked into one unit. I have to pumps and motors mounted outside my shop. This way I don't have to listen to them run. When I'm forging I can barley hear them. I don't have to switch any lines. When I turn the press on I get 50 percent oil flow to the machine. Once the mill is on I have 100 percent. This way I can leave the press turn around and run the mill. The oil passes though the press goes on to the rolling mill and returns to tank. It is a great set up.
 
kzooglock23 said:
Josh,

This is an excellent thread and I look forward to seeing more. I have always loved knives and over the last couple of years have gotten to a point where I could start collecting decent blades. Your work is amazing, as is the work most who make custom blades. Making the damascus was pretty cool stuff. Awesome blades on the website.

SB
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for the compliments. I really appreciate it.
 
This is hands-down the coolest thread on BFC in a bit (IMHO anyway :)). Thanks!!!

Your shop photos inspire me to want to make knives! I used to tinker with some stock-removal stuff, but man were they ugly. Thanks for the peek inside your shop and technique.

Professor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top