newsmth

I guess a fellow could bring in body mechanics into this discussion. You mentioned the metal had a pattern after forging. Are we talking about a row of half circles left from the edge of the hammer? Dressing is important, but you may need to work on raising or lowering your shoulder, or planting a hip against the tail of the anvil to reduce hinge points and plant a square blow.

dunno but try reposting, cuz i also have some old files and probably wanna know what you wanna know, lol

so over my past break off from grad school i threw together a forge and got some materials to start teaching myself the basics of blacksmtihing. i started off by just heating some rebar and beating the crap outta it until i was ready to actually try something. what i've noticed is that the face of my cross peen is leaving a pattern on the metal due to the way its made. would i be able to take a grinder to it and shape it to remove that pattern or do i need to anneal the face before hand?

agreed... it would be nice to have a quick reference like this available

thanks for the advice chris... yeah i def. had some scale problems. i don't have a wire brush yet (going buy some supplies today), and i'm using a chunk of railroad rail for my anvil, which happens to be a little dented where my grandfather used it, so there was a lot of scale that was built up on it. i dunno if i'll polish it or not, cuz i know that rebar is too low carbon to really make a great knife. this was just an attempt to get a shape without grinding, and good practice with learning how the metal behaves when heated. thanks for the kind words!

i built myself a temporary forge while i'm waiting on a more permanent one to be finished, and i started doing some work on it... today i attempted to shape a knife. i just hammered out a piece of scrap rebar i had laying around... hopefully some prettier things are soon to come!

wow... very nice...

You have ask us to provide you with information so you can understand and complete an involved project in a new (to you) craft (blacksmithing) and a specialty of that craft (bladesmithing) in 30 days. At 8 hours a day, that is only 240 hours, so with time being short, let me suggest you read completely IForgeIron.com from cover to cover. (You will have to register to get to the members section, but you have already done that.) It is dedicated to blacksmithing and should get you the information needed to not only get started but to provide some advance learning. You will need to apply what you have read to building a forge, then you will need a LOT of hammer time to gain the experience needed to understand the way metal moves. While Brian Brazeal is still in Virginia and Maryland, you NEED to take the short drive from North Carolina to spend as much time with him as possible. The free demos and very nominal fees for the all day teaching classes will be well worth the investment.

IForgeIron also have a section on knives which is a good place to start on your understanding of what makes a good blade, what shape blade your friend needs for the job at hand, the fit and finish of the hardwear etc.

BUY all the books by Dr. Jim Hrisoulas. If you have not heard of him, you have not been doing enough reading, as he wrote THE BOOK(s) on knife making. You may visit his web site to see some of his work. Also visit Don Fogg's site, British Blades, and all the sites Chuckster mentioned in Technical Links.

This should get you started but should be only the tip of the ice burg in your quest for knowledge. There are many more sites and much more knowledge out there, including specialty sites on knives, blades, swords, and etc. The internet is a wonderful place where you can get lots of information with little or no financial investment on your part. You will want to attend classes, demos, and interact with other bladesmiths to learn more about their craft. The face to face meetings, and watching these craftsmen work will open your world to many new things.

To pack all this into 30 days time is a challenge, but you can produce your first blade within that time frame. It will not be the greatest knife you will ever produce, but it will represent your best efforts with the time and knowledge you have to work with. Your friend should be pleased with the gift, and even more pleased knowing it was the FIRST blade you produced.

Hi everyone!

So here's the deal... i'm pretty much brand new to any type of smithing (although i did dabble a little while i was bored in high school). I am going to build my own forge next week using some random parts from around the junkyard and start in practicing.

I could really use any and all tips you have for a newbie such as myself. but specifically, i would like to forge a decent (not being too optimistic) high carbon (something like 1060 and up) knife for my best friend for christmas. i have been reading a LOT of material, but anything you all could tell me would be beyond helpful.

thanks in advance!

patrick