Recommendation? Turn 90°, bend or fold?

T

TroyN

Joined
Apr 9, 2020
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Howdy all. Been reading all your sage advice for a while, but just registered to ask my own question after my search-fu failed... I'm making a "garden scythe" (aka a sickle or a kama), so I need to do a right angle from the blade down to the handle, but I only had long, straight, 1095 flat stock on hand. I'm getting close to finishing the shape and bevel, and now I am wondering if it would be stronger/better to heat and bend the thin bar 90°, or heat and shallowly wack a 45° groove in (cutoff tool or blunt chisel) and fold it over? (Yeah, that's how I roll: Ready! Fire! Aim!..?)

I'll try to figure out some images, I'm not sure I'm describing it well!
 
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Don't use the chisel and fold, bend as Warren said.
 
I'll go for the bend, thanks folks! How "tight"? Like, would you wrap it around a .5" pipe? Something larger? Some pics of the current steel (3/16" thick 1095, tang is 1/2" wide), as well as a paper mock-up showing what I want it to do. The paper is where I got the idea for folding, it worked good on paper! (pun intended)

NY1YeaY.jpg


and:

KvqBfbN.jpg


Cheers!
 
You should forge the tang to that shape. You are correct in the two methods available.

Personally, I would fold it and forge weld the fold to make a thicker area at the base of the tang. Don't chisel any groove, just start the fold on the edge of the anvil or in a vise. Work it HOT.

If you decide to do it as a simple bend, get it HOT and work the bend on the edge of the anvil until it is the angle desired.

In either case, work the bend only while in the upper forging range ( 1800-2000°F), and stop as it drops down to red. Once the basic bend is formed, you can work it at regular heat (1600-1900°F)

Edit note: I changed your asterisks to a degree sign for you.
The code is [Number Lock] [Alt] 0176.
 
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Stacy is right in that a forge weld is probably the 'best' (professional(?)/most historically accurate/etc.) way to do this. But if you aren't already practiced in forge welding like this, I'd suggest bending hot.

TroyN said:
I'll go for the bend, thanks folks! How "tight"?
Click to expand...
As tight as you want to make the bend. What you're really looking for is not having any kinks/sharp creases or folds. If I were doing this as an exercise in forging, I might even use it as practice forging a 90° bend... (see below)

hmmm....that didn't work. make that "a 90 degree bend."

EDIT - hit "Number Lock", then hold down the alt key and type 0176. You can leave the number lock on all the time.
 
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Thanks for the tips, everyone, I appreciate it. And the degree °F edit, I was using a little Bluetooth keyboard with no keypad, and the alt-codes don't seem to work on the number row. But I can copy and paste now that there's one there. ;)

I like the idea of the fold and forge weld, but the entirety of my forging experience was a few minutes of hammering almost 30 years ago in a metal shop class, and the teacher shut it down quick when he saw I was trying to make a knife out of a railroad spike. :p I want to use this scythe in the garden soon, so I'll play it safe and gently bend, keeping it in the upper forge range while doing so! :thumbsup: Thanks again, folks!
 
I will shoot a photo of one that hangs on the shop deck later today, but the traditional method of attaching the tang to a scythe blade is riveting it on with two rivets. some sickle blades have three holes to allow two different handle angles. This method makes for a stronger blade and easy tang formation. You could easily saw off your existing tang and rivet it on to the blade at the desired angle. This would also easier tang shaping. It would also allow the blade to be heat treated and finished before riveting and the tang to remain soft ( if desired)

Here is an image from the internet.
s-l225.webp
 
I will shoot a photo of one that hangs on the shop deck later today, but the traditional method of attaching the tang to a scythe blade is riveting it on with two rivets. some sickle blades have three holes to allow two different handle angles. This method makes for a stronger blade and easy tang formation. You could easily saw off your existing tang and rivet it on to the blade at the desired angle. This would also easier tang shaping. It would also allow the blade to be heat treated and finished before riveting and the tang to remain soft ( if desired)

Here is an image from the internet.
s-l225.webp
 
weo said:
EDIT - hit "Number Lock", then hold down the alt key and type 0176. You can leave the number lock on all the time.
Click to expand...

Thanks....Hmmm... just tried, but it doesn't seem to work on my system. Nothing I'm worried about, though. Sorry for going off topic....
 
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