The forged look

C

chrisa62401

Joined
Jan 28, 2012
Messages
230
I don"t have a forge but I really like the primitive forged look I see on some knives. Is it possible to take a piece of 1084 and heat it until pliable and then just beat it up with a hammer to obtain the look of divots and hammer marks in the steel?
 
That's all forging really is! Except with a bit of control to move the steel how you want. Just be careful with the temps, hammering at too low of a heat can cause cracking.


-Xander
 
If you don't have a forge, it would be pretty hard to forge a blank to look anything like forge work. It would require repeated heating to 1600-2200F and working it on a smooth flat metal surface with a smooth rounded face hammer.

Just beating on it while hot ( but not bright red) with a ball peen will leave the wrong marks and probably ruin the blade with micro-cracks.



You should be able to get a smith to sell you a pre-forged blank that needs all the grinding and shaping. Some smiths regularly sell their excess blades laying around that they never finished. I know I have a box of them in the shop.

If that sounds good, post a sketch of the blade you plan to make and see if someone wants to rough forge it, anneal it, and send you the blank for you to take from there and make a knife .
Do all financial agreements (if there are any) by email or PM, and there is no problem with it being on Shop Talk.
You could also post such a request in "The Exchange : Wanted - Knifemaker Services".
 
first off, i am in no way even i think qualified to be giving any advice, but since im starting out i will offer you what i had considered espically being in your stage, i liked the forged look alot too and a simple forge can be made for well under $20, just takes a little looking, a little bargin hunting and a little bit of time, a simple forge can be made from nothing but a brake drum, some pipe, a hair dryer and some charcoal, all these things you most likely have around the house or can be gotten really cheap, when i was researching a forge i could of done it very cheap but i choose just to slowly make one that will last, check out the wayne gooddads $50 knife shop, after i read that it showed me not only how quickly i can get into knife making but that i dont need $10k worth of gear to get started, plus in there he has how to make a super cheap forge for like $10.

Stacy's advice is what you should be listening too if u dont wanna do a cheap forge, and i would take on every if and or but that he says, he has really helped me out getting started then what he himself might even think.
 
I "texture" hammer from time to time but Stacy is right, the true forged look is a product of oxidation from thermal cycling... and if you don't do that right, you will ruin the steel. Some well known smiths use textured dies in a press to get the look... even rasp and file patterns are "applied" through texturing.
 
A good forge finish, like Rick said, is not composed mostly of hammer marks but of texture from the oxide. A forge finish shows how skilled or unskilled the smith is with a hammer; a lot of hammer marks shows poor control. I've seen stock removal blades that were beaten with a ball pein and then ground; they didn't look particularly good.

That being said, a number of knives I've liked quite well have had texture forged in and then the bevels ground. Just don't make it look haphazard and you'll be ok.

And forges can be darn cheap; the simplest ones are literally Bronze Age technology and can be made entirely from natural materials.

aggression01.jpg


Here's one I just posted; I'd say it has a good forge finish with the texture deriving mostly from oxidation and not misplaced hammer blows. But it's really a matter of aesthetics and your mileage may vary.
 
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