Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: E. Jensen on June 23, 2017, 06:40:00 pm
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It's been 3 long years but I'm finally gearing up to make knives again. I'll be starting the build the day we move into the new house (Monday), even if its just an hour at the end of the day.
I've got it sketched out, all my supplies lined up. Went to the salvage yard and got a sweet hammer for $3, put a maple handle on it. Got a bar of W-2, which is really super for quench lines.
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Great! Can you post some pics of your forge setup when you get a chance I love seeing how other people work :)
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Absolutely! This will more than likely turn into a WIP post.
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Can't wait to see this progress, i have seen your other work😉
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I'm watching. (-P
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Thanks for posting this. I am looking forward to more progress pictures.
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Same here, E.
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Tear it up! Sometimes a lay off from something you love doing can produce the best you've ever built.
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Tomorrow will be hectic but will unbox the old forge and do some repairs on it. Also need to build a blacksmith guillotine tool, that will make forging the tang much easier and cleaner. Also need to find where on earth I put my file guide. Anyways, I needed a stump for my railroad track anvil, so I went up to flagstaff. My buddy tipped me off to where the electric company cut some trees and left a few pieces. Unfortunately, we're under fire restrictions so no chainsaws. Fortunately I have a 4-1/2ft crosscut saw (misery whip) I filed/sharpened myself. I didn't have any oil but this was next to the dollar store so I lucked out! The oil and the wedge saved the day. It was bigger than I was initially going for but this will be even better, more sturdy. Now that it's loaded (help from a stranger) I'm happier its bigger. I was also bringing back a ~200lb pottery wheel so also glad the truck didn't die.
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Watching too I love hand forged knives.
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Finally got moved in! Of course it took all my attention so I didn't get started until yesterday. Setting up my anvil was a lot of work as well. I trimmed it slanted a bit and didn't have enough length to recut so I chiseled out a seat for the track anvil. Lemme tell you what...I need a new forge. A real forge. What I have is perfect for heat treating small-medium knives (~1500F), because it can't really get too much hotter and overheat the steel (bad), but not great for forging (hotter than 1500F, closer to 1800-2000F). It's especially inadequate for such a big bad or steel. I get about 5-6 swings before it cools too much. Once it thins out it moves a little faster. Pounded 3-4 hours yesterday, 3-4 hours today, will finish the tang tomorrow. Would only take 2-3 hours total if I had a real forge.
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:P
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:)
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:)
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:) So maybe red hot steel is.....hot, and tracing paper burns really easily....
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:)
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I like seeing the progress pics! Keep an coming! Cheers- Brendan
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Great build so far, thanks for taking to time to bring us along
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Yes I agree. (-P
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Yes very entertaining, could go through a lot of (-P
Bjrogg
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Wow that's a tough way to forge a knife. I have to give you credit for what you are doing and accomplishing. If you can weld you cuold build a very serviceable forge for about $100.00. I assume that you are refering to Flagstaff Az, if so lookup Arizona Artist Blacksmith Association and join (they are a group of very helpful people just like on this forum) and you will get opportunities to go to demos, take classes and meet like minded people. You could probably hook up with someone that couls help you build a forge. Pm me if you need more info.
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Desert Rat Forge down in the valley was going to have a $50 forge building workshop but unfortunately had to postpone. I'm doing it this way because we just bought a house and don't have a lot of extra $ for new forges, plus I'm on a time crunch because I go to CO for work in 2 weeks and want to get this done so I can bring it. When I get back, I'm just going to buy a majestic forge.
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Forge was running hotter today, made things nicer. I got some good hot pics today.
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I've got some of the scale ground off. It's oversized in all dimensions,which means more grinding, especially on the tang, which is pretty thick, but it was getting too small to hammer without distorting too much. I could have monkeyed with it and hammered it thinner, but the weld on my rebar failed so I was down to using vice grips, so..... got it straightened, made sure I had length, and called it. I need to go pick up some vermiculite tomorrow, to anneal it and run it through some thermal cycling, to refine the structure in the steel and release and stress. If it's going to warp, I'd rather it warp while it's oversized. Then I'm going to glue a copy of the sketch straight to the blade, profile it, grind some, then harden it.
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Coming along nicely. (-P
Bjrogg
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Well, I found another bar of steel, in the size I need. That'd have been nice to have a week ago. Cut it out lickity split, swiss cheese style and connect the dots.
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Those look sweet! Cheers - brendan
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Those sir "will cut"
Bjrogg
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Those are both looking good :OK I can't wait to see how you finish them up.
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Pre-heat treat grinding is done. About all I got done today. The heat got to me a little, 97F in my west facing garage is a bit warm after lunch, plus long sleeves/pants, sweat, and covered in metal dust. I quit early. I'll harden the blades tonight, and in the morning I'll be tinkering with drilling holes and filing the fittings. I'll do the final grind, and hopefully can get a start on hand sanding the blades tomorrow. Then I've got to practice soldering guards.
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Glad I did a backup blade. One barely warped at all, the other is a horseshoe. Funny thing, its the backup blade that warped. We'll see if I can't straighten it tomorrow. Sorta tricky once it's been hardened. I find heat treat best to do at night, that's how my eyes are trained to see the colors and the temperatures they correspond with. And since I temper them immediately for 1 hour so they don't ping overnight (after hardening, before tempering, the blade is under tremendous stress, which tempering relieves). That also means its late and I'll be up another hour to check that the toaster oven shutoff.
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Is that clay tempering?
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Yesir
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Final grinding is done. Next comes the fun part. Hand sanding the blade.
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Looking good. How do you bring out the tempering line? Or should I just wait for it?
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Great question. First step, lots and lots of hand sanding. The belt finish is 120, start hand sanding with 220, then 320, 400, and 800. Finished with a scotch brite pad, ultra fine. This took about 6 hours give or take. At this point, you can see the line in the right light, but what will really bring it out is some acid, which I will do either tonight or tomorrow morning, and then start on the guard. The guard is a bit of a mental block for me, since I've never done a slotted guard, and I've certainly never soldered one on, and it can all go pretty wrong. Also anxious about drill the block, and anxious about peening the buttcap. We'll cry about that when we get there though
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:D
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Nice work beautiful hamon
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Looking good, glad to see you making again
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Got the guard mostly fitted. Took FOREEVVVVVVVEEEERRRRR. Two days. And.....it's crooked. Should be able to correct that tomorrow.
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Well. Soldering was a success*. A little too hot, and a LOT messier than I planned, but better that I learn to handle and clean these situations. Fixed the crook I think.
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Nice. Soldering guards was always one of the hardest things to do for me yours came out clean
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Doesn't that take the temper out of the blade?
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Yes but not very much and only near the guard. Now, there was a gap in the solder, so I took it off, cleaned it up, and tried again. My heat sink fell off and I messed it up. Now THIS is significant loss of temper. Only in the discolored area, but its a lot. This build is a failure, there is no way to recover from this. The blade is ground too thin to reharden. I'll just finish it up and use it as a beater knife.
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That stinks haha it's was looking really good. On to another one! Cheers- Brendan
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Could you silver solder or braze it before you harden. They would take the temperature. The guard would be in the way of grinding I guess.
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In the way of finishing the blade, and would have to use higher temp stuff, >1500-1600F. Best in the future to just get a tight fit and not worry about soldering.
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I used to own well over 100 daggers made in Sheffield England from 1850's to the 1920's and have looked st 100's more. No one made better knives than they did and they usually didn't solder the guard just fit it tight against the handle. Table cutlery including carving knives were soldered more often
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Ya, when you really think about it, and all the hidden and through tang knives made throughout history, hardly any were ever soldered. Not sure about the history of solder but I'd venture to guess it's a relatively recent innovation. As long as you seal it from moisture and dirt, which a tight fit and a dab of glue should do, is no problem.
Anywho, I cleaned up the knife, again. Tight fit. I won't have to finish before I leave for work, but I did pick up an unfinished blade I started years and years ago. Almost done.
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Done
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Ohh Sarah!! You did not disappoint!
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Wow, that's nice
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Wow that is a beauty! Turned out great! Cheers- Brendan
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Very, very nice! Thanks for posting this. It turned out incredible; you have tremendous skill.
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E.J. send that "beater knife" to me .............. ;) :)
DBar
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(A) (A) (A)
that's really a beauty. jaw dropping for sure! :OK
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Beautiful knife and I like the beater, too.
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Wow beautiful knife
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Very nice work, looks incredible and sharp.
Bjrogg
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Well I went ahead and finished that burnt blade for practice. Completely new kind of tang construction for me. It came out decent, certainly learned a lot. The handle got awfully skinny so I'll have to keep an eye out for that, Also, the shape I planned for the butt didn't quite happen. Additionally, the wood is flat where it meets the plate, and the plate could be thicker to show more curve. So on the next one, I'll curve the wood which will make for an interesting fit, and then use slightly thicker steel for the plate, 3/16 rather than 1/8. I've got the 2nd knife fitted to the guard, dry fit only no solder!!!! But its very tight and will look good, its also not crooked >:D I've been dragging my feet on this second one because I really like the ironwood I have for it and don't have any other blocks if I mess up, and generally I'm just a slow poke.
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:)
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Nice work! Great wip thread!
Hawkdancer
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That's one good looking knife.
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Sweet as can be.
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Something I would like to try some day. You sir are a true craftsman. John
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wow, fantastic!
Hans
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Great finish work
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It's coming along. I wanted to take my time and make sure it's just so. I'm going with a curved butt, I think it looks much nicer than the flat. So I worked on this other smaller knife I've got to practice that. Well it went well so I want to get this one caught up before doing the final shaping on both. This is because I'm down to the absolute bare minimum on abrasives and don't want to run out on the ironwood. As soon as I grind the butt plate to match the curve, it'll be ready for glue up and peening the tang. Then I'll shape the handles and we'll move on to the sheaths. That should be interesting. Tooled leather with basswood core.
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Handle glued and peened. Try and finish it tomorrow.
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Beautiful knives!
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Done.
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Just plain gorgeous Eric!!!!Congratulations!!!Worth top dollar I'd say. :OK
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Excellent work. Thanks for sharing your skill. Really enjoyed this! 8)
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Very nice work Mr. Eli!
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Great looking knife! Thanks for the build along.
Hawkdancer