Why Forge?

Good to hear your daughter is OK.

I started forging for the damascus, I do like this stuff.
But I have found it to be much fun to take a piece of tool steel say 2'' dia. by 3'' long or so and see how large a bowie I can get out of it. Did I mention that I love my 100# Little Giant :D I have some giant bowies that need finishing but the fun stops when the grinding starts, for me anyway.

Don Hanson lll
 
We just put in a 330 pound power hammer to replace the 150 pound air hammer. Just in time, too, we noticed a big crack in the 500 pound Little Giant.
 
Don, I know what you mean about the big bowies. I've really cut my grinding time down a bunch. I used to do a ruff grind after forging but now I just do a quick profile grind. Do all the heat treating steps and grind after heat treating. I remove all the scale with a 4" angle grinder before going to the belt grinders.
 
Ray, that's great news about your daughter!! Being a stock removal guy, I congratulate you fellas that like to pound on hot steel and catch fire. Not everyone is cut out for it. You all need fireproof britches. Hey, I have always wondered, do your ears ring all the time, or do you wear ear protection? Back to the forged steel, I can believe a packed edge would be the ultimate if everything else is done correctly.
 
There is no better therapy than forging.The whole world goes away when the steel starts to glow.I love to see the metal work under the hammer.
I'll be a good boy and won't start the discussion on "Edge Packing".
Stacy
 
Probably it's just thermal cycling that I could duplicate on stock removal blades, but the one knife I've forged is much sharper and stays that way longer, than most of the stock removal knives. Edge geometry probably has something to do with the sharpness too.

That said, I still lean towards grinding all the excess steel away even though we waste a lot of good steel!

That said, Ray's point that you have total freedom what you make of your piece of steel is a major plus as far as I'm concerned; if anything, that is what will ultimately move me to forging occasionally. I don't expect that forging my blades will become my standard process though. I'm totally a child of my roots, and that was the 70s. Most of the makers from the 70s were stock removal guys and for better or worse that's what got into my blood.

Damascus doesn't mean a whole lot to me, though the mosaic patterns are very interesting. Mostly I want to make blades that will cut and that will do their intended jobs well, and I believe you can get there either way. I think a couple of the major benefits to forging are the ability to get a nice distal taper and convex cross section. You can do both by stock removal but it doesn't come natually the way it does from forging a blade.

Good thead Ray, thanks. I'm glad to hear your daughter is okay.
 
Edge packing works!

But that's if you're forging blades from wrought iron, shear steel, or damascus containing either. the slag can be diplaced, steel just moves.

Tony
 
Great news Ray.

Robert, 21 layers 1x4x6.

Dave, you need to come down so we can spend a day or 2 making and using some damascus, I think you'll change your mind about it not meaning a whole lot to you ;) , besides there's nothing like getting scorched, burned and toasted from flying red hot slag, gets me all excited just thinking about it, better go fire up. :D
I've heard a lot of things over the years about doing this and that when forging and heat treating and if you don't do it your not getting the most from the steel.
99% of it is BS, its like forging while standing on 1 foot, mouth wide open, and 1 ear taped flat to your head, believe me that doesn't do anything but make 1 leg tired, dry your mouth out and messes up your hearing for 24 hours. :D

Happy forging,

Bill
 
ysforge said:
Edge packing works!

But that's if you're forging blades from wrought iron, shear steel, or damascus containing either. the slag can be diplaced, steel just moves.

Tony
Click to expand...

I would call that diplacing slag,, not edge packing.
in the terms, that most belive edge packing to be,
 
Bill, Does having a wooden leg count? I'm really surprized that all the noise hasn't effected my hearing. I don't like wearing ear protection mainly because I seem to go off in lala land while wearing it. I never have messed much with edge packing and believe the heat treat is the ticket. I did get a good burn yesterday while normalizing. First time I did something like that. I was swaping a blade from my tongs griping it with pliers and didn't get a good grip and it slipped and came to rest on my middle knuckle edge first. No blister but it almost made it to the cartalige. I should remember this one for awhile. Here's the largest knife I've made to date: http://www.bladegallery.com/knives/knife.asp?knifeid=2784&pics=small&alt=one After I was done forging I had only used 11" of steel...
 
Glad to hear your daughter's OK.

It's possible that the attraction to forging hot metal into weapons and implements is in the genes ...similar to hunting ...something that harkens back to our earlier hunter/gatherer primitive times. In any case, there is definitely something primal about pounding hot steel.
 
Jiminy, Your right about the gene thing. Both my Great Grandfather and Grandfather were in the cutlery business and I've heard blacksmithing was in it before that. My Great Grandfather started his cutlery business in Southbridge, Ma. in 1862. There's a 6 page article about the business in "New England Cutleriers".
 
Ray it’s good to hear that your daughter is OK. My son is going to school in Wales in September and he being that far away worries the wife and me a lot.

I got to do my first REAL forging at Ron Duncan’s hammer in last week. I have to say it was a great experience. I have found a propane forge and have a 25 pound Little Giant to use (my high school shop teacher) and I plan on forging most of my blades in the future.

Joe Foster
 
Ray, ya better take good care of that burn. You fellas raised an excellent point about it being in the genes. I fully agree with that. You forgers gotta quit forging nekked, though. Folks think you are doing some secret dance while pounding, but it's all those hot sparks........................... .
 
Ray I don't think a wooden leg makes any difference, but a metal leg might if you don't forge with it stretched out facing due north. :D
I've also tried forging with my :footinmou and it never did any good either, sure did draw a lot of attention from the neighbors though. :D

Get to forgin'

Bill
 
Thanks Don. I forged that one at a church campout a couple years ago. Most folks bring there bikes, boats, and other toys. I bring my portable forging outfit.
 
Dan Gray said:
I would call that diplacing slag,, not edge packing.
in the terms, that most belive edge packing to be,
Click to expand...

I'd tend to agree with you, but the concept of edge packign dates to the times when blister steel, shear steel, and wrought iron where at leat as comon as any fluid steel for knife making, and I believe that it was re-newed by makers who read things like Bealers "The art of blacksmithing" it was writen in the early 70's, and had various little mistakes in it. One of them was the proclaimation that "all good knives where edge packed" The wording may have been different, but I remember I thought hard about it for a long time.


So, I agree, most people don't think of what I said to be edge packing. But most people also don't know that the idea of edge packing came from a time when knives where made of things that did greatly benefit from it.

Just my 2 cents,
Tony
 
If you guys will edge pack, then I'll edge pack. Ray, I really like the Bowie! You should be proud of that one. Al my blades are smaller (much, much smaller). Currently I'm practicing forging out some Scagel style blades. I can't swing a very big hammer because of a bone condition, so I had Ed Caffrey make me up a couple of left-handed lighter hammer heads, that really did the trick. It takes me a lot longer to forge a blade, however that doesn't matter because I really enjoy forging. For me to forge a blade as big as the big Bowie, I'd need to call upon my 100 Little Giant for some assistance(I love that machine, it has a soul).

Bill B., thanks!
 
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