What's the best way to add hammer marks to a stock removal blade?

Atlas Knife Company

Atlas Knife Company

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Feb 16, 2010
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What's the best way to induce pitting on a blade? I want to protect the bevels but have pitting on the flat part. Can I coat the bevels with wax, or is tape adequate? Can I get something from the leather factory to create the pitting or will something else work better?
 
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I have used gun blueing smeared on a blade and let it dry. Then put it in bleach. It rust almost imediately. Pull it out of the bleach and rub with steel wool. You might want to try it on a scrap piece of steel to make sure it's the look your going for.
 
One tip i recently received was to protect the bevel with a quick coat of clear fingernail polish... remove with acetone when you're done and the patina sets darker too.
 
Pancho! You're the man with the plan on this one. Exactly what I'm trying to do. What size hammer should I use? I have a 4 oz. ball peen, but it wouldn't hurt to buy a few more at garage sales this weekend. Perhaps pitting isn't the right term, I should have typed hammered-looking.
 
I am a poser bladesmith I know, but it came out kind of nice with the heat treat scale and I also dipped in ferric chloride/water mix to make sure it was etched deep. I used an 8oz hammer, if I remember correctly it made about 1/8" dings in the steel with a solid but not to hard of a strike while the steel was annealed. Test out the sizes on a scrap piece to find the right size you are looking for. Post pics please.
 
I like Pancho's idea for texturing annealed steel. Hammering on hardened/tempered steel probably isn't a good plan ;)

I've also had interesting results laying brass barstock on bare concrete and whomping it, for a random beat-up look. I suspect that would also work on steel but be more subtle.
 
They call it by a french name so you know it was intentional and not just unfinished...

Brut de forge

or

Brute de forge
 
I would coat the bevel in Brownells anti-scale and soak the blade in a forge or kiln until its formed enough scale and pitting.
 
I didn't know that. This was a stock removal knife so maybe "brute de grinder" might be more appropriate. Hehehe.......
 
Hey Zaph,
you're coming to Ashokan, we'll teach you how to actually use a hammer so you will have no need to counterfeit it

-Page
 
If he is going for a certain texture as opposed to faking a forged blade, its cool. Beating on a piece of bar stock so you can pass it off as forged is:barf:
 
The pitted look makes it look like some old steel. Some knives are made from old german saw blades and have pits all over. They look cool to me so I tried to replicate the look I am sure zaph is trying to do the same. Geesh!:D
 
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uep if your gingto hit it with a hammer might as well have it hot when you do it :)

i have etches and rusted blades just for contrast but never put divots on the flats

(well sept for forged blades) and they alll got ground away for a nice clean finished look anyhow
 
Yup, anneal the steel, the lay on an anvil and take a ball peen hammer to it. The weight of the hammer will dictate the size and depth of the indentations.

I do this to buttplates and guards to give them a textured look. If you do it to blade material, just grind the bevels and the flats will still have the texture.

Andy
 
ib2v4u said:
If he is going for a certain texture as opposed to faking a forged blade, its cool. Beating on a piece of bar stock so you can pass it off as forged is:barf:
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Oooh, sorry to spark the religious debate. I'm not trying to fake a forged look, I'm trying to make a bollocks dagger look old. Bright and shiny just doesn't look right at my skill level for this dagger. I had a natural patina on the 1075 I was working, but accidentally ground into it beyond the bevel with the 120 belt(bearing blew out on my contact wheel). I didn't want a clean spot on the patina'd spine, so I am researching patinas and hammer marks. I have one side cleaned and plan to clean the other side today. I still plan to have a flat spine with a patina.

Any suggestions for aging a wood handle? I think it's lacewood.
 
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