First steps - forging knives

[General Zod]

A lot of established knife-makers use the magnet method.

Yeah, I've watched several of Walter Sorrels' videos, and he uses a magnet every time he heat treats.

 

[Axxe55]

Yeah, I've watched several of Walter Sorrels' videos, and he uses a magnet every time he heat treats.

I have learned a lot from watching Walter Sorrel's videos.

 

[General Zod]

I have learned a lot from watching Walter Sorrel's videos.

Between him, Black Bear Forge, Alec Steele and Purgatory Iron Works, I've picked up a lot of tips and techniques.

 

[Axxe55]

Between him, Black Bear Forge, Alec Steele and Purgatory Iron Works, I've picked up a lot of tips and techniques.

Red Beard Ops is a good one too. another couple of good ones I like are Koss amd Zeeman Knives.

 

[General Zod]

Red Beard Ops is a good one too. another couple of good ones I like are Koss amd Zeeman Knives.

I'll have to check them out.

 

[Axxe55]

I'll have to check them out.

They each have their own different styles and methods, but very informative. Koss and Zeeman mainly do stock removal method, but still lots of great info to learn from.

 

[General Zod]

It. Is. HOT today. Well, humid as all hell anyway. Weather app claims it's only 91°...

Anyway, it's heat treating time. I fixed my bevels, then fucked them up, then mostly un-fucked them (lessons were learned) and got everything to about a 120 grit polish. Drilled holes for handle pins in the optimistic hope one of these might survive torture testing to become a finished knife.



Then I fired up the forge and heated the blades until they were non-magnetic...then heated them for a few more minutes before quenching them in canola oil. The quench seemed to go well - a file skates right across the steel instead of biting in.



You can see the oxidized finish the oil left on the blades. That needed to (mostly) go, because in the next step I'll need to be able to see if a tempering color appears on the steel. So, a bit of light sanding happened to get back to bare metal.



As you can see, not exactly the prettiest finish, but at this point it doesn't need to be. Right now I'm preheating the oven to 400° to temper the blades. That should be about a 5 hour process. So...hopefully tomorrow I can finish them up and get the edges sharpened to start some torture testing.

 

[Axxe55]

It. Is. HOT today. Well, humid as all hell anyway. Weather app claims it's only 91°...

Anyway, it's heat treating time. I fixed my bevels, then fucked them up, then mostly un-fucked them (lessons were learned) and got everything to about a 120 grit polish. Drilled holes for handle pins in the optimistic hope one of these might survive torture testing to become a finished knife.

View attachment 344956

Then I fired up the forge and heated the blades until they were non-magnetic...then heated them for a few more minutes before quenching them in canola oil. The quench seemed to go well - a file skates right across the steel instead of biting in.

View attachment 344959

You can see the oxidized finish the oil left on the blades. That needed to (mostly) go, because in the next step I'll need to be able to see if a tempering color appears on the steel. So, a bit of light sanding happened to get back to bare metal.

View attachment 344960

As you can see, not exactly the prettiest finish, but at this point it doesn't need to be. Right now I'm preheating the oven to 400° to temper the blades. That should be about a 5 hour process. So...hopefully tomorrow I can finish them up and get the edges sharpened to start some torture testing.

zzzzlooking good so far. Very nice indeed. You know I'm jealous now!

 

[General Zod]

Time to go take the knives out of the oven - this is the second tempering session at 400°. And then...yeah, I don't think I can not finish at least one of them tonight. LOL. Off to the workshop!!!

 

[jrbfishn]

You have just 2 hours to fix any problems in your blade and have a handle ready to test......will it keel?????
We'll be waiting.

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[General Zod]

Lol yeah...I'm gonna take longer. Sure they're sacrificial test pieces, but im gonna make 'em purty.

 

[General Zod]

You have just 2 hours to fix any problems in your blade and have a handle ready to test......will it keel?????
We'll be waiting.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

Hey, JRB, how's this look for post-termpering colors on 1075 (if you can even tell from a photo). I'm not sure what shade of "straw" I should be looking for.

 

[General Zod]

Ok. Mistakes were made (and you can see evidence of them) and lessons learned...and now the knives are ready for the "Forged In Fire" style torture tests.

As you can see, one lost its logo touchmark. I'm sad about that, but I learned to stamp BEHIND the plunge line and not above the bevel.

Simple leather wrapped handles till I know one or both has survived.

 

[jrbfishn]

Hey, JRB, how's this look for post-termpering colors on 1075 (if you can even tell from a photo). I'm not sure what shade of "straw" I should be looking for. View attachment 345006

I have no experience tempering knife blades, so I can't help you there.
Personally, I like to see a higher bevel on a blade. I have tried some bushcraft knives that were fat blades with short bevels to the edge and could not stand them. All the flat ground knife blanks I used were ground to the spine or close to it.
If you want your mark closer to the blade, try a flat grind higher up, mark the blade and then harden. That way all you should need is to polish and sharpen afterwards. Might work better.
A lot of how you edge a blade depends on what it's intended use is. And I am not trying to disparage your blades at all. For some things, those would work well. But a short bevel grind like that can be hard to sharpen.

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[jrbfishn]

Oh yeah, overall, I do kind of like the one on the left. Not a bad shape at all for a skinning/capping/boning knife.

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[General Zod]

Oh yeah, overall, I do kind of like the one on the left. Not a bad shape at all for a skinning/capping/boning knife.

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To be honest, these two were very nearly just straight bars with bevels since I'm using them to test my heat treat. But then I realized I might want to finish them afterward, so I did a little shaping on the fly. I guess you'd call them "camp knives".

 

[jrbfishn]

For just a general camp knife to have to cut something, those will work while standing up to some abuse. And that is great. The abrupt angles would be hard to get an edge for fine work and would create drag for other work. Like any other knife, the design means they have pros and cons. The handle shape is very similar to a line of kitchen knives I make. Very nice for delicate work. The ones on the right. Although for me, I generally prefer the ones on the right.

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[General Zod]

For just a general camp knife to have to cut something, those will work while standing up to some abuse. And that is great. The abrupt angles would be hard to get an edge for fine work and would create drag for other work. Like any other knife, the design means they have pros and cons. The handle shape is very similar to a line of kitchen knives I make. Very nice for delicate work. The ones on the right. Although for me, I generally prefer the ones on the right.

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Where do you get the brass rod for your pins? I'm having trouble tracking any down - everyone sells tubing, but not solid brass rods.

 

[AZ Refugee]

Amazon product ASIN B003F0E2UQ

 

[General Zod]

Amazon product ASIN B003F0E2UQ

Smartass...

But yeah, OK. I don't tend to look there for knifemaking supplies. Good find.