Trouble with the whole process

T

Thomas Rachow

Joined
Feb 23, 2021
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8
Hello, I am new to forging.
I had a few different pieces of old steel I've been playing around with, my father in law assured me that they could be hardend, and I can shape it into a pretty good looking knife. No matter what I do though to try and harden it, has failed, but not for lack of trying. I will not give up...
That being said, I decided to go to a local metal supermarkets, and they had a nice piece of 1075 steel for me. It's deff thick enough, I don't rem the exact number but it is thicker than 3/16ths. And it 3 inches wide and 4 ft long... I want to make a nice kitchen knife for my old man .. I have tried to do a ton of reading and online research, but I spent $100 on this piece and to be frank, I don't want to mess it up! I have so many ideas and no dought that I could figure it out, but Ive decided that the best thing to do was to ask for help. After reading so much on this site I thought I would just sign up and ask for help ...

I don't even know if I should just cut this thing out and go through the process, (which I'm still not completely sure what the heck I'm doing, and getting very frustrated)... and then just grind it and put a handle on it, or if I should just cut a chunk off and smack it around until it looks like what I want..... (It's so nice and straight that I don't know if I should just do little or no forging?)
I'm making this knife for my dad, I've never really made anything like this for him b4 and he is my Hero, and I want to try and humbly show him how much his time has ment to me, and how skilled of a man he raised ...
If there is anyone who has the time to spare and explain this to me I would so greatly appreciate it ..
 
Forging holds no benefit over stock removal as far as the quality of the finished knife. It just adds another degree of complexity to a process you are unfamiliar with.
I suggest you find a piece of 1/8" 1075, 1080, or 1084 steel. Lay out your pattern and grind/file the blade.
 
For keeping a knife straight, stock removal may be your best bet.

Forging allows more freedom in design, but as stated, introduces so many variables. Skill, equipment, etc.

Three inches wide is a decent chunk. At 4 feet, you have enough steel to try both methods.

You can try to forge one, and if that fails, stock removal.

Even with forging, you are likely to need to grind to clean it up (or sand if you don't have a grinder).

What tools, forge, anvil etc are you using?

1075 is pretty simple to forge and heat treat.
 
Bigfattyt said:
For keeping a knife straight, stock removal may be your best bet.

Forging allows more freedom in design, but as stated, introduces so many variables. Skill, equipment, etc.

Three inches wide is a decent chunk. At 4 feet, you have enough steel to try both methods.

You can try to forge one, and if that fails, stock removal.

Even with forging, you are likely to need to grind to clean it up (or sand if you don't have a grinder).

What tools, forge, anvil etc are you using?

1075 is pretty simple to forge and heat treat.
Click to expand...
Hello there.. ty so much for this...

I have a small but useable anvil, 2 1/2 lb hammer, a 2 burner hells forge , it's propane, a angle grinder 4in, big vice, and a 6gal metal quence bucket, with mostly vegetable oil, and 2 quarts of synthetic motor oil...
 
And should I normalize first? And then thermo cycle, and if so how? And then ht and then grind and then temper and if so how?
 
If you don t forge that steel , search for file guide jig .And you can grind with that jig blade better then i grind on belt grinders after four years practice .
 
Ty,
Do u have any ideas for the whole process start to finish, I'm over loaded with info, I don't know if I should normalize or not, thermo cycle , if so how, and then ht, ?
And then do I temper it in the oven?
 
Thicker than 3/16s is probably too thick for a kitchen knife, you could forge it thinner and then use a grinder to clean it up
 
I don't heat treat but google says:

1075 Heat Treat Information:
Austenitize: Heat to 1,560°. Quench in oil.

Tempering: Temper at least once for 30 minutes. Tempering twice for two hours each time is preferred. Use the chart below to select the tempering temperature.
1075-TC.gif
 
fishface5 said:
Thicker than 3/16s is probably too thick for a kitchen knife, you could forge it thinner and then use a grinder to clean it up
Click to expand...

This, Maumasi has a detailed video of forging by hand as close as possible on Youtube. Check also Jason Knight on Youtube. I would probably use the hand grinder to rough in the bevel and finish by file. This will be easier if you anneal the steel after forging. Read through the sticky on the top of the page. You will need to do grain refinement before HT.

You will need to practice so don't expect your first knife to be anywhere near perfect, but give it your best try and you will learn a lot. Maybe do a knife for yourself first and then the second knife for your father. Good luck.
 
Complete forging to shape might prove difficult, so you could cut a "preshape" (basically a smaller non refined shape of your design) with your angle grinder and then forge (stretch) that out. I would hammer in the bevels as close as possible. Use your vice and light taps to keep everything straight (dont let the things get away too much).

There is tons of videos on normalizing and HT in forge. Take time to study beforehand and you can avoid a lot of mistakes. Also search up how you can use a angle grinder and files to do bevels. You will also need quality sand paper for sanding.
 
Wow tyvm fredycro , I just called the supplier and he says it's annealed and suggested normalizing, so I think I'm going to cut out and hand forge some, then normalize . If that's right, then I'm going to thermo cycle, and the ht and then temper. . I definitely need to do more research,, I deff appreciate this...
 
Thomas Rachow said:
Wow tyvm fredycro , I just called the supplier and he says it's annealed and suggested normalizing, so I think I'm going to cut out and hand forge some, then normalize . If that's right, then I'm going to thermo cycle, and the ht and then temper. . I definitely need to do more research,, I deff appreciate this...
Click to expand...

This is Maureko Maumasi going through the big part of the forging and HT process, watch all the series, he goes slowly and explains quite a lot.

 
I'd go back to the supermarket and get some thin O1 for your kitchen knife.

keep it small, sketch it out first.get enough material for three
 
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