General Zod
TGT Addict
So, I've taken the plunge. I was going to wait till the weather was a little cooler, but...nah. So I've made two knives today that I'll be heat treating and tempering tomorrow, and then...I'm gonna test them to destruction. Since these first two pieces are only to learn to heat treat, I only forged one of them. The other I made through stock removal. I had planned to do both that way, but...well, my anvil was giving me that puppy-dog eyes look, and I just couldn't not forge something today.
So the plan is to touch up the finish and drill pin holes in the handles (in case one or both knives survive their testing, so I can finish 'em!) tomorrow, then heat treat the knives one at a time. I'll have to figure out how to regulate the temperature in my forge to within 50-100 degrees, so that's going to be an interesting process. I'm going to heat the knives up to about 1500 degrees for fifteen minutes, then quench them in oil. Once they've cooled down from that, they'll each go into the oven at 400 degrees for two hours, twice - with a cool-down in between. Afterward they'll each get a simple leather wrap on the handles for comfort while I'm doing horrible things to them like hacking at cinder blocks, chopping 2x4s, and testing if they'll bend and return to true.
If the testing is successful, then knife forging will be something of a recurring habit with me. There's a bit of gunk from the grinder sticking to the blades here - I'll be refining the finish a bit in the morning. The forged blade is on the right, the chonky stock-removal blade is on the left.
So the plan is to touch up the finish and drill pin holes in the handles (in case one or both knives survive their testing, so I can finish 'em!) tomorrow, then heat treat the knives one at a time. I'll have to figure out how to regulate the temperature in my forge to within 50-100 degrees, so that's going to be an interesting process. I'm going to heat the knives up to about 1500 degrees for fifteen minutes, then quench them in oil. Once they've cooled down from that, they'll each go into the oven at 400 degrees for two hours, twice - with a cool-down in between. Afterward they'll each get a simple leather wrap on the handles for comfort while I'm doing horrible things to them like hacking at cinder blocks, chopping 2x4s, and testing if they'll bend and return to true.
If the testing is successful, then knife forging will be something of a recurring habit with me. There's a bit of gunk from the grinder sticking to the blades here - I'll be refining the finish a bit in the morning. The forged blade is on the right, the chonky stock-removal blade is on the left.
