First steps - forging knives

[robertc1024]

@General Zod I hope you know this guy on youtube - got to be one of my favorite channels. This is a pretty good video he just released about forging a knife:

 

[General Zod]

@General Zod I hope you know this guy on youtube - got to be one of my favorite channels. This is a pretty good video he just released about forging a knife:

First I've seen of him, actually. Pretty cool.

 

[robertc1024]

He does all kinds of stuff that is interesting to me - repairing all kinds of stuff, making homemade cannons, dropping trees etc. He's one of the few people I'd like to hang out with and learn stuff from.

 

[General Zod]

I've been getting a lot of good info from Walter Sorrells on YouTube. Him, Black Bear Forge (less knife making and more general blacksmithing there), Purgatory Iron Works, Will Stetler, Alec Steele and Jason Knight are large parts of my video rotation currently.

 

[robertc1024]

I've seen the Black Bear Forge stuff before - good stuff, but I'm no metal worker. My experience is in making mud-dauber welds with a MIG.

 

[General Zod]

Yeah, I'm completely self-taught via YouTube and a couple of books. But I'm having fun and making stuff people like, so...

And, of course, the results of my first heat treating attempt encouraged me enough to start on this Bowie. Doing something like that so right on the first try is a major confidence booster. "Holy shit, maybe I do have some idea what I'm doing..."

 

[robertc1024]

That's the fun of it though - right? Try something and if it works (or even doesn't) you've learned something. How can you learn otherwise?

My problem now is that once the in-laws learned that I can fix stuff by diving in, they think I'm their handyman - sigh. Good for the ego I guess, but that's about it.

 

[Axxe55]

Yeah, I'm completely self-taught via YouTube and a couple of books. But I'm having fun and making stuff people like, so...

And, of course, the results of my first heat treating attempt encouraged me enough to start on this Bowie. Doing something like that so right on the first try is a major confidence booster. "Holy shit, maybe I do have some idea what I'm doing..."

probsbly 95%of what Ilearnedsbou knifemsking csme from you ube.

 

[General Zod]

Well today was a humbling day out in the forge. I spent too long running errands (and looking for something to quench a 15" long knife in - and the best I could do is a foil turkey roasting pan. That's gonna be fun) and didn't make it out to the workshop until 6pm. Once there I finally finally got the bevels where I wanted them and symmetrical on both sides of the knife, polished it up to 220 grit, and it was looking good. So I fired up the forge and put the knife in so I could hammer my touchmark stamp into the blade and maybe even heat treat a day earlier than I planned. I was feeling good.

Pulled the knife out when it was nice and cherry red, got my stamp and hammer ready, lined it up and klunk - I hit it crooked. The right half of the logo imprinted, the left half faded out.

Shit. Ok. I've done this before, all I have to do is heat the steel, line the stamp up, and give it a good, centered whack. No big deal. Back in the forge it went. I waited, checked it, put it back in to heat some more, pulled it out, lined the stamp up, and...WHACK! A nice, solid, centered it.

1/8" down and to the right of the original attempt.

SHIT.

Now I had a double-image stamp that looked like total ass. Coyote toes everywhere. I cussed as I turned the forge off. There was only one thing to do. I had to grind the logo out...which meant grinding that entire side of the knife until the logo(s) disappeared. So I carefully cooled the knife in water - not a quick plunge, because I didn't want to quench it and risk the steel warping or cracking in the cool water. And then, I went to work on the grinder to grind 1/16" of steel off what was then a 3/16" thick knife. It took a couple of hours. And, of course, grinding the flat of the blade meant the bevel began to shrink. So once the logo was finally gone, I had to start re-grinding the bevel to get it back where I wanted it. Annnd...I ground it too wide. Now I was going to have to re-grind the other side to match the new bevel on the first side.

Shit.

So I started grinding the other side...and it wouldn't cooperate. The bevel went crooked, dipping down toward the edge halfway to the point instead of giving me a nice straight line. So I worked on fixing it and...now it was wider than the first side.

Shit.

So I re-ground the first side, and ground the flat on the other side to try to lower the bevel. Now the bevel was wavy somehow, even though everything was ground flat. Wait...is the knife laughing at me?

This went on for three hours as I fought with the knife. FINALLY...finally I had a pair of bevels that while not perfect, at least didn't look bad.

OK. Now, there's a cold front coming in tonight with a bunch of rain all day tomorrow, and all my tools out in the workshop are run on a 100' extension cord from the house, because I don't have power out there yet. So when it's raining, I can't have power tools. Also, since I can only really work on weekends, I have two weekends left to get this knife done before I need to ship it overseas. I'm in a real time crunch, and I had to drill the holes for the handle pins before heat treating it tomorrow. So I spent an hour or so measuring, taping, marking the tape, marking the steel with a punch, and finally drilling the pin holes for the handle scales and bolsters.

Then...

Well...the knife still needed a touchmark. By now, I shit you not, it was now 11:00pm. I could wait on it till tomorrow but...no, I tried to do this five hours ago, and dammit I'm gonna do it. But this time I was smart. I got a test piece - a nice blank of 1/4" steel that I heated up in the forge, set on the anvile, and WHACK! A perfect touchmark. The logo was nice and crisp and perfect.

Ok. I just proved I can do this. Fine. I put the knife in the forge. Pulled it out once it was glowing cheerfully red, set it on the anvil, and...klunk.

Are you shitting me?

OK. I have to save it. I can't grind another 1/16" off and be left with a thin, weak Bowie knife that'll bend if it gets used...if it even survives the quench being that thin. Shit. OK. Back in the forge. I waited, checked, repositioned, waited...pulled the knife out, lined the stamp up caaaaaarefully and WHACK!

Slightly off center. Shit. Ok. Back in the forge. Three's a charm, right? Same drill, back onto the anvil, line the stamp up kind of between the two images and...WHACK, goddammit!

So. Now the knife is ready to heat treat. It's got bevels I'm mostly happy with, a logo that's embossed a bit deeper than normal but that looks almost perfect (I can see evidence of a double image, but I doubt anyone else will), and I was done. So half past midnight, I locked the workshop up and trudged inside. No pics tonight.

 

[jrbfishn]

If it can go wrong,,,it will.

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[General Zod]

Yep. Got another double stamp on the logo bit it's not horrible. Might see if some careful Dremel work will hide it. Meanwhile, I had a successful quench and I'm tempering now.

 

[cycleguy2300]

Yep. Got another double stamp on the logo bit it's not horrible. Might see if some careful Dremel work will hide it. Meanwhile, I had a successful quench and I'm tempering now.

Just an idea (I'm full of them)...

Next time, could you endmill the miss-strike out, then re-strike into the recess? I think it would look cool.

You do good work. Its fun to see.

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[General Zod]

Just an idea (I'm full of them)...

Next time, could you endmill the miss-strike out, then re-strike into the recess? I think it would look cool.

You do good work. Its fun to see.

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Got no milling equipment or knowledge...but it would look cool, I agree - though I'd worry about thinning the steel that much and stamping it yet again. Could create a crack in the heat treat.

I'm going to try a small carbide bit on the dremel - I can clean it up just by extending one contour and then nobody will ever know.

 

[jrbfishn]

Don't worry too much about minor imperfections. When I buy something hand made I am not buying perfection of looks but hopefully better function. Yes, looks also matter, to a point. But function first.

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[General Zod]

Don't worry too much about minor imperfections. When I buy something hand made I am not buying perfection of looks but hopefully better function. Yes, looks also matter, to a point. But function first.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

Yeah, but it's my logo...I just can't...
Besides, trust me, there are plenty of other little imperfections built in. I've got no way to use a bevel jig on the grinder I've got (its little "work table" attachment is way too fragile to offer any use) and if you really look you can tell. I'm more than happy with how the bevels have turned out, but I did like the previous version, too...before I screwed up and had to grind the old touchmark away.

It has what you'd call "rustic charm". So, this week I'm going to start on the sheath in the evenings. Next weekend, surface polishing, steel bolsters and walnut scales, and sharpening. While my other knives survived destructive testing, I don't think I'm even going to be brave enough to hack a piece of lumber with this one.

 

[General Zod]

Fresh from the tempering cycle and ready to be finished. I love the bronze color the steel takes from the heat (in this case, with an interesting purple pattern), but it's gonna get polished away.

 

[msharley]

If that is a reject?

Dang! Would love to have it!

You Sir are an "Artist"!

 

[Vaquero]

I like it.

 

[Tblack89]

Looks great

 

[General Zod]

If that is a reject?

Dang! Would love to have it!

You Sir are an "Artist"!

Not a reject - I'm just not happy with the logo and am going to have to figure out a way to fix it. The rest of the knife...that's gonna be finished and shipped overseas to my friend I'm making it for.


And...it'll probably be a long time before I make another this big! It's been more than a challenge.