Brandonk42

Thanks guys! I did some reading and I definitely see what you are driving at. They are HC spikes but even those don't appear to have a high enough cabon content to make a "good" knife. I have a ton of these things so maybe I could try something else with them.

Hello! I'm very new to the blacksmithing world. This site rocks and thank you for those whom have already helped me out! I just have a quick question about tempering a RR spike knife. Could someone be kind enough to explain to me the property technique? Thanks so much!

Bumping this to once again thank everyone! With all your advise I got my forge working wonderfully! Definitely was hot enough. I wasn't leaving enough coals on the bottom in my initial attempt and it was taking so long to heat that I thought I was doing something wrong. (Of course I was) After reading your posts I actually was surprised at how much faster the metal got to working temp. In fact it surprised me it worked so quickly that I melted a piece on the first spike I put in there. Learned something right there as well. I made my first knife today and although it's not close to perfect it was a great practice run in which I learned a lot from the hands on aspect. And man am I loving it! Thanks everyone and happy forging!

Thank you everyone for all the useful information! That's why I love this site. I hope I can pay it forward one day. I'm going to use this information and give it a go again in the morning. It seems I put the metal in before the forge was heated up properly and didn't have a nice bed of coals on the bottom like the one poster mentioned. It did heat the metal but it took a real long time. Good tips on the fire color and also on how deep to make it as well. Thanks again!

Hello all! First off great site and great contributors! I've learned a lot and I am very anxious to learn more. My question is about the time it should take to heat metal. I just built a 55 gallon drum forge using the plans on this site. I am wondering if I was successful. About how long should it take to heat metal to the correct temp? I was testing it out on a railroad spike I had laying around and it seemed to take quite awhile. I was using coal and coke as it is abundant in this area. My air source was a hair dryer. I have a feeling I may have put the metal in before the fire was hot enough in my excitement. Any tips as well would be greatly appreciated as I'm definitely very much the rookie.