Anyone into blacksmithing and knife making?

[army of nobunaga]

Been learning the trade on weekends for about 4 months now. I have made my first knife even with it tempered and such.

Anyone else take part in the blacksmith forging thing as a hobby?

If we can get like 8 people maybe start a discussion guild room?

[shieldgenerator7]

oh you're serious. I thought this was a Skyrim thread. Sorry I don't do blacksmith, tho it sounds awesome

[army of nobunaga]

I have to admit.. even as a kid I wanted to beat on red hot metal... and well its lived up to those dreams;..


It really has. Call me a strange weird person.. but it is relaxing. I think it is more popular of a hobby than people realize. HEck you could even start up a
poor mans" forge for under 400 bucks total.

[kentington]

When/If I get a house I will be all over this. I don't think my landlord would like a forge in the kitchen.

Do you have a diy set up? Pics? Is it the washing machine drum?

[army of nobunaga]

i can post the pics I do have.. but its on my phne in the other room.

So tomorrow mate.

But the guy that is teaching me has a nice set up. For the forge under 400.. (and that is an estimate) you could do it with something with coals or coke (either a half drumm with compressed air from a small pump coming in) and a railroad yard legnthe for the anvil (you would want to place this is a cemented half barrel as well to get it to height and stability) a 200 dollar grinder (this is the minimum.. many go for about 500-1000, but Ive seen some that would be fine for small scale at 200) A nice vice (pawn shop, use american vise) files and a hammer and tongs.

Then man really the education begins... there is so much I learned in the last 4 months, there is no way I could type it out. I am a science guy, not a brilliant guy but someone that understands things... and metallurgy and blacksmithing are FINE exact sciences.

I got on the web and asked around.. found a cool guy here in Houston that makes knives as soon as I got here in america again. And he has taught me a mountain and a mountain of things.

If there are others interested maybe we could start a group. I am not a master at this or even good but it is one of my loves in life and I am passionate about it and will contribute a lot.

[kentington]

I wont be able to participate but I would like to see the results.
Remember: Pics or it didn't happen.

[army of nobunaga]

lol, I have my ugly ass mug beating steel on an anvil, and my ugly ass mug grinding metal... not sure if I want to post my face.. we will see man.. I can at least post the knife.

[Mr_Adams]

lol, I have my ugly ass mug beating steel on an anvil, and my ugly ass mug grinding metal... not sure if I want to post my face.. we will see man.. I can at least post the knife.

seriously intrigued. I will be checking back.

[KoolBak]

I use dies to cut my product on my 50 ton press; the old / obsolete dies I give to a buddy that makes knives from them.....the "blade stock" is 1.25 inch wide, serious razor sharp on one side and very high grade tool steel. He has made a tempering forge out of firebrick i have and a juryrigged forced air propane setup....I'll post some pix of his stuff ;o)

[oVo]

So.... what kind of steel are you making these blades from
and is annealing it in lime part of your process?

[army of nobunaga]

I use w2 steel. But I think most people use high carbon 10 series steel. That is what the guy that is teaching me uses. There are a lot of recipes for annealing, but basically we use the spec sheets on the types of metal we are using and then heat it in a controlled oven till it reaches its austenite (sp?) point then temperature is reduced over time.

You can also use a laser heat gage and measure your furnace temperature and do it out in your forgery. This is slightly less than precise and you have to stay alert on metal color and such. I have seen one guy even use a vasolene paste with char mixed in for the lower temperature annealing part.

But yeah this is one of the most important phases of the work. I like using sheets and formulas like a recipe in say making a soup. The guy teaching me does it a little more old world style with sight and guesses.

There are also different annealing processes I did not mention. But you can find "recipes" for each type of metal with each types of processes on the internet.

[army of nobunaga]

I use dies to cut my product on my 50 ton press; the old / obsolete dies I give to a buddy that makes knives from them.....the "blade stock" is 1.25 inch wide, serious razor sharp on one side and very high grade tool steel. He has made a tempering forge out of firebrick i have and a juryrigged forced air propane setup....I'll post some pix of his stuff ;o)

Yeah I am going to do one of those propane juryrigged set-ups soon. They seem to work better than the firebrick coke oven.

I use tool steel as well w1 or w2 if I can find it. That is some awesome blade stock man. Im jealous.

[army of nobunaga]

ok here is my first knife, be ready to be underwhelmed. I used w2 steel from well, a file. It spent little time on the anvil basically just long enough to get the shape. I spent a lot of time grinding. It ended up small because
1) I wanted something small to carry around.
2) I kept screwing up and had to take off more metal.





I believe I nailed the annealing process because it holds an edge like noones business. I actually shaved with it when I went camping one day this week.

The handle is rusting a little, will have to take a wire brush to it today or tomorrow. but for a first knife I am ok with it.

I got the idea from a gun show where a guy made knives from files. His work was WAY better than this, but I liked the idea of his so I tried it.

[KoolBak]

Sweet!

PM me if you want me to shoot you an old die to play with ;o) Gotta love a fellow knife fan

Ever heard of the Westmark series (701 702 703)? My fa-vo-rite knives...have managed to collect about a half dozen of them......

PS...what method of sharpening do you use??

PPS....WTF is that in your avvy? looks like a body stuffed in a car trunk

[army of nobunaga]

Sweet!

PM me if you want me to shoot you an old die to play with ;o) Gotta love a fellow knife fan

Ever heard of the Westmark series (701 702 703)? My fa-vo-rite knives...have managed to collect about a half dozen of them......

PS...what method of sharpening do you use??

PPS....WTF is that in your avvy? looks like a body stuffed in a car trunk

I would love a blank man!!!! Yes I know that knife, very damn nice. I collect knives as well. Probably the finest that I own are a couple of Japanese hunting knives that I got from well known makers.. The rest I have are antiques and knives made by. Small time makers.. Sorry this is fro? I? You phone in the grocery store bar. I see pacific Northwest for you. I consider Monterey ca my home. I know that part of the world well. Ill messages you later on, I can purchase the. Blank. Do you know. Lw the type so I can if. X the specs on.. The steel?

[Mr_Adams]

Very cool!

[oVo]

Watch for a rebroadcast of this show on PBS.

[army of nobunaga]

Watch for a rebroadcast of this show on PBS.

I will thank you.

The honest truth though man? ... Modern Steel far outclasses what ancient Japanese blacksmiths had to do out of necessity. Its a myth that we cannot recreate the quality of older weaponry today. We can actually outclass it.

And here is the tricky part to why there is still debate. Sword makers have to use a "spring" steel. Or a metal softer that bends. Otherwise with the force of each at a one meter or more lever would shatter a high carbon steel with a rockwell hardness of say 65.

When you make a steel more flexible you lose rigidity and hardness which is what is needed for a super razors edge.

Metulergy is a deep science today that guys with PhDs and not some slackered like myself understand fully.

But I saw a demonstration of a modern "Samurai " sword at a knife show a year ago. It was damn impressive and the guy who made it is an engineer in metallurgy and described how today's metals are superior.




---

In reply to my avatar, yeah its a chick being kidnapped. I use to work in SA and a little in Mexico and later lived in mexico... Kidnapping has become a noble and traditioned profession in some places...


@kolbak - I still use stones. I have a large 10 inch arkansas stone that I will basically immerse in oil and sharpen my knifes. Its very slow, very... puts on an incredible edge though.

[nietzsche]

That's very cool.

Nothing beats the feeling of having done something beautiful and useful for ages with your own hands. I used to code for a living for a short period of time, today I do more money by owning a business, yet nothing compares when I design and build a cool piece of furniture no matter how small.

Creation, one of the few valuable projects of life or meaning givers IMO.

[Juan_Bottom]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-fillet-k ... 4ab7fa2ca7
http://www.ebay.com/itm/FULL-TANG-CUSTO ... 4d017f0305


I've just found out that there are dozens of grizzled, self-reliant knife-makers who sell their stuff online. Do any of you do this or AoN are you planning on doing this?


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Knife-Making-Bl ... 6715140548
Blanks too^

[2dimes]

Kool he said, he's on an iPhone, will pay for the worn die, wants to know what the steel is and it's just a hooker in the trunk.

[Juan_Bottom]

I'm just saying that buying a good camp knife on ebay from a CCer would be neat-oh.

There's an infinite amount of steel blanks in all grades for sale on ebay. You can buy anything that you like to make a handle too. One dude is selling fossilized Mammoth for your handle making needs. Another jeweler sells jeweled thumb studs.

[2dimes]

Of course he also fast posted me by nearly 5 hours.

[KoolBak]

Kool he said, he's on an iPhone, will pay for the worn die, wants to know what the steel is and it's just a hooker in the trunk.

Thanks....lol. He needs to PM me ;o)

[2dimes]

Why, is the steel used in your dies a trade secret? Are you worried if backaline finds out their steel sucks and switches up their dies they will make more or better belts?