Gundog48

I'm after a very basic belt grinder for my bladesmithing work, as a bench grinder just isn't going to cut it. I'm not after the real industrial £700 units as they are both excessive, too big and too expensive for my needs! I've seen a few of the POS ones going cheap with really thin belts that look like converted bandsaws, but they are a bit too thin and don't really look up to much. I've considered building a simple vertical grinder with a half horsepower motor directly driving a pulley with the belt going over another further up. That gives me a nice flat belt area which is what I'm after and I'll be able to use a nice wide belt and should be easy to build. However I was scouting around on the Bay and stumbled upon a NuTool 370W belt grinder/ disk sander. It's not going to be that good, and I've heard mixed things about NuTool, but it is going incredibly cheap (I should be able to get it for £20). It takes 4" belts. Is this going to be useful as a knife grinder or is it simply too weak? It seems spot on for my scale and needs, just so long as it is man enough! What do you think?

Nice to speak of someone that shares an interest! I am always hesitant to post about LotR or similar blades as a relative newcomer as the general reaction is usually 'oh here we go again, another nerdy kid wants to make a sword with no effort'! To me, there is nothing more satisfying than having produced something yourself that you can look at and be proud of. Everything I make, be it on the forge or elsewhere, any imperfection, visible or not, will annoy me to a point that I hate what I have produced and I can't be proud of it. Attention to detail is very important to me, even if it means trying and failing many times. Either get it right, or throw it away and start again. I'm not very familiar with engraving techniques, I believe it's done with a chisel in a lot of cases, I imagine it would require a lot of skill, especially to replicate a design like this. If this is the case I'll probably bring it inside and practice when I have nothing to do. I can see why you would be harsh, clearly producing replicas like this would have taken you many years of experience to produce, and for someone to come along looking for an easy way of doing it is going to be annoying. I'm really dedicated to this and want to become skilled at it, no matter how many years it will take.

Thanks Rich! I've read Jim Hrousilas's book cover to cover multiple times, I'm pretty well clued up on it from a theoretical standpoint, but in practice it is a lot different! I've managed to heat treat a knife before and the whole thing went quite well, although this is a lot more complicated! I've forged this out of a rasp which has a good carbon content. Once I've done the rough grinding I'll practice the bevels and etching on scrap pieces before attempting to work on the final piece, although I still don't expect it to look good first time! That's a really good idea about practising knives on mild steel! I'll see what I can find and start knocking loads of them out until I get it right. I want to forge a sword within a year or so purely because I don't think you learn by sitting back and avoiding it, but by trying, failing and trying again. Making it out of mild steel would make my life a lot easier in terms of finding steel. At the minute for knives I've been forge welding half inch lengths of ring gear together and flattening and drawing out which takes so much time and effort, especially without a striker. My weak 16 year old self isn't up to much 1-handed sledgehamer work! I've been measuring up and acquiring materials for a 25lb tyre hammer to help out with that, because hand hammer work just isn't going to do the job if I plan on drawing out billets all the time.

I'm not really up to a stage where photos would be of use, once I have the rough grinding done and sorted out the profile, I'll post some pictures. Right now you can't really see what you've got to work with! Jake

I'm attempting to forge a replica of Aragorn's knife from Lord of the Rings. This is my second ever knife, and I'm expecting to make many attempts before I get it right! Even so, I love the shape of the blade, so the ones that don't turn out quite right should still look OK. I finished forging the rough shape today and I'm rather happy with it, but there are a few problems down the line I am anticipating some trouble with. Here are my questions: The bevels- it starts of with a nice curve, I have a bench grinder and belt grinder. My plan is to use the curved shape of the grinding wheel by barely touching the wheel at the very start of the bevel, then applying more pressure as I move down which should give it a nice steady curve until the size becomes almost constant. I'll probably have to smooth it out by hand with some sandpaper or a good file, but can you think of a better way of doing it? The engravings. The way I see it there are two ways of doing it, print off a stencil and stick it over the finished blade, then try to trace it with a dremmel- I'm anticipating mistakes here! The other would be to acid etch, although I'm not very sure about how that is done. What would you do in this situation? Thanks for your help! I've attatched a picture of the knife for reference.

Thanks for your input all! I've done a lot of research and have decided to go ahead and build a power hammer, much to the delight of my neighbours! It's going to be a bit big for my shop which is just a garage with a 55 forge which I bring outside and operate on my front drive! But I'll fit it, just means I've got to go with a space efficient design. Tyre hammers definitely look the best, but a little complicated and probably too heavy for me. I think that a 25lb Rusty would probably suit me best, but I have a few questions, I'll avoid starting a new thread, but it depends whether you see them! Have you seen any videos or personally used a 25lb Rusty? Be interesting to see how handy they are at drawing out and the like. I've considered a Krusty design, but apparently they can be very dangerous as the spring can go, what do you think of this? I don't want to loose an eye at 16! I understand the mechanics of it, but I'm not sure how the clutch works. Obviously it has to disengage the motor and also ensure that the hammer always returns to the 'up' state, could someone explain this or tell me where to find drawings? Would a 25lb Rusty be up to what I want? I don't really want to go heavier otherwise I'll have to buy a 1hp motor, but with a 25lb I could salvage a 1/2hp washing machine motor. Thanks once again!

Now that is interesting. They're really hard to find round my way, but looking at it they don't seem impossible to build, may be a good summer project! Any suggestions or advice on where to look for good designs? Seems everyone is trying to sell designs which make me a little sceptical.

I'm getting some free 30mm square stock on Saturday which will make hardy tools so much easier, I spent hours squaring off a kingpin to fit! I was thinking more about the anvil getting damaged, I've yet to see it move around but after hearing stories of cracking, breaking the heel etc. I'm a bit tentative when it comes to bashing something with a sledge on the anvil and I normally use an old post anvil I have which isn't too effective, but I don't have to worry about damaging it.

That's a shame to hear. I have never heard of a hold-down hardy before. Saw a design that uses mole grips that should be easy enough to make as I have a spare pair. Being able to use two hands would give me so much more force and I may be able to go with a bigger hammer! What size sledge can you safely go to on a 1cwt anvil?

I am a bladesmith and I do a lot of forge weling billets and drawing out. Working on my own I find tha I spend most of my time preparing a piece of steel rather than shaping it, I've been using a 7lb sledge one-handed to try and get the steel moving easier but it just takes too long, and being 16 I don't exactly have the muscles for anything heavier than a seven pounder! What I am looking for is a bit of extra power to help me draw out billets and flatten out bar so I can spend more time on the blade itself! A power hammer is way out of my league, but I could afford a fly press or make a treadle hammer. I've done a bit of research, and have found that an Oliver hammer wouldn't really have enough power to be worth it for what I want, but a swing arm or inline treadle would. I've got some good pieces of steel to use as the 'hammer and anvil' each between 30-50lbs, although I'm not sure what I should be aiming for in terms of ram weight for what I want. Here is an everyday example of what I would use it for. I've got 2 lengths of ring gear, each 0.5" square minus the notches. I need to forge well them together and flatten it right through to 3-16" thick, the section is 15" long.

Thanks for the info! I've got a far better idea of how I'll do it now! Fortunately these barrels are 2mm thick which is slightly thicker than 16ga which is good. What kind of tools would you recommend other than an anvil and ball pein hammers for simple dishing? What sort of finish does the armour pictured have, it doesn't look painted but is too dark for plain steel? Is it iron?

I'm fairly new to metalworking as a whole, and I really want to get a taste of as many different aspects of it as possible. I've been making knives, decorative brackets, tools etc on the forge, and I'd really like to try making armour. I can get old drums for free so I have a virtual limitless source of sheet- so why not? I have been researching how the different plates are made, but one bit I have struggled with is the more simple question of holding it together! I want to base the armour I am making on the one in the picture. From what I can see, he is wearing a chain maile suit under the plate, although I do not believe that the plate attaches to it. There are a few leather straps, but surely there must be more securing the shoulder plates and various arm plates in position? I think I'll leave the majority of the arm plates and just go for spaulders and bracers, but what would you recommend for attaching it all together? The breast and backplate can be secured together with leather straps and the bracers can be held with two leather straps. But I'm really not sure about the spaulders. Any general advice on how they go together would be great and perhaps suggestions on what to wear underneath other than maile? Thanks!

Thanks for the advice! I've read 'The Complete Bladesmith' through about 5 times! It has a lot of good information and allowed me to forge my first knife pretty easily. I'll have a go at forge welding tomorrow, I've got quite a few strips I could weld into something a lot more useful. So, with a product that doesn't need a high carbon content, I could mix some low carbon steel (light) in with some high carbon steel to get a sufficient contrast? Ill read up on what nickel does to steel and perhaps it will help me spot where it would be used so I can find some scrap. Bandsaw blades are the only common application of it that I've found, I'll have to ask around some woodworking places, I'm sure they'd be happy for me to take an old blade from them for a rounded up scrap value and a trinket of some sort!

I'm looking to have a go at pattern welding for the first time and I was looking for some advice on steel. As a starter, I would like to make some simple bracelets as they should be easier to practice on than blades. So the carbon content is not important in any way, just as long as they etch to form a nice pattern. Most of the sources I have read are referring to knife blades, so they recommend something along the lines of 1095 and 15N20. I realise that I can change the 1095 to virtually any steel, but I'm not sure about the 15N20. Where I am (Kent, England), the stuff is like gold dust! You can't buy it new near me, and I'm having trouble sourcing old bandsaw blades. So is there anything other than 15N20 I can use when carbon content is important, or other sources of it?

Thanks! Thought they went pretty well for a starter project! They aren't too hard to build, and I imagine an experienced blacksmith could do it easily! I started with 12mm bar, made a normal tong jaw and flat on one length and made a right angle on the other for the pivot areas. The top jaw is two bits of flattened bar welded at a right angle (first try with a welder!) because I didn't have anything else to work with.

This is the very first thing I made after getting my forge. I had read a load of books about bladesmithing, but I thought the best way to really understand what they were talking about in the books would be to actually try making one, because as we all know, things that seem simple in theory are often hardest in practise! I started off with a section of starter motor ring gear. The main part of it is about half and inch square, with notches all the way along. I cut it out with an angle grinder, straightened it out and flattened it to about an inch wide and 2/8" thick. That took some serious work with a 1lb hammer! Apart from the bench grinder, these are the only tools I had. A 1lb ball-pein and mole grips as tongs. I was very happy with the final forged shape and cleaned it up on the bench grinder. I forgot to take a picture of my rig for the bevels. Basically it's a camera tripod mounted in a vice with two hard drive (incredibly strong) magnets attached to the head. Using that I can control the bevel angle and move the piece along the side of the grinding wheel. Works very well! It's far from perfect. The tang is way too short and the blade is narrower than I would have liked and there is a nasty chip along the top. But for the very first product of my forge, I'm pretty impressed! We'll see if it pays off when I heat treat it next weekend. Then I'll make up a crossguard and look into making a handle. My granddad is a carpenter so I'm sure he'll be happy to help out! I'll post some more pictures after the final grind and polish.

I did a clearout of my Granddad's shed and came back with quite a lot of useful tools and steel. I managed to get a load of old chisels which I'm going to be using as steel for the cutting edge of some tools I'm going to be making soon such as a cut-off hardy. I've had my eye open for old bandsaw blades as a source of 15n20 steel, but I found these. I'm pretty sure it's just standard high carbon steel, but is it possible that I got lucky? Also, what are files usually made of? I've heard they can be quite good for blades.

I've been messing around on the forge for a couple of weeks now, and I finally decided I needed some tongs to forge some bigger stuff. I've been reading a lot of books about bladesmithing, so believe it or not my first actual project was a knife. I've read all there is to read about it, but I figured to understand it properly I'd have to try it. I'll be posting that later. Anyway, I finally got some square stock to forge a pair of tongs which I'll need for working on some bigger stuff to forge cut-off hardys and things. Looking at most blacksmiths, they seem to have over 20 pairs of tongs for different sizes of metal. Not having the time to forge them, material to make them or even space to store them I got some inspiration from a photo on the forum for an adjustable tong. Here's how it turned out: I spent most of my time working on the rivets which were hard to get right so that everything was just tight enough. It automatically adjusted to pick up real thin stuff like this blade. And did the same for the biggest thing I could find, a 2" thick plate weighing just over 30lbs. It's also pretty good at picking up round stuff, as long as the widest point is behind the pivot on the top jaw. I'm quite proud of these for a beginner, and they should do just about everything I need them to do for a while!

My shop is in my garage on the front garden in full view of the street due to space constraints. I'm 16, and I get about 100 lads about my age from a bit of a dodgey school down the road walk past every day. I get some odd looks, but I don't think anyone would argue with a guy surrounded by about 5 hammers forging a knife. Not quite sure how you would argue that hammering hot metal is 'nerdy', pretty hardcore as professions go!

I finished the forging and rough grinding of my first ever blade today and I am extremely happy with it! Other than a punch, this is the first thing I have forged and I don't think it could have come out better for a first attempt, it's cleaned up really well. I forged it out of a length of a starter motor ring gear into a bowie style using mole grips and a 2lb ball peen hammer. I've finished the shaping, refined the profile and ground out all the pitting, but I am left with one problem before I can heat treat and polish it- the bevels. I've removed the side guard from the bench grinder so I have a nice flat edge that has worked well for the rest of the blade, however the real difficulty is finding the right angle to grind at, and to be able to keep it at the same angle the length of the blade to give it a nice neat line. What would you recommend for this? Because it is a bowie-style knife I want the bevels to start at a certain point down the blade and for them to be straight. How would you go about doing this with my particular setup? Would files be a better option, or would it be best to save up for a belt sander? I'll be sure to post pictures when I'm done, I'm really proud of it so far for a first attempt! Thanks, Jake

I really want to have a go at pattern welding after reading a lot about it in the book I'm reading and having seen the results on the forums. I thought a nice practice project would be to forge a nice steel bracelet as it is a reasonably simple shape and shouldn't use too much material, so I'll be able to practice. The book I'm reading is for bladesmithing and recommends about 36 layers for some patterns, however I've seen some lovely looking rings forged with only 5. I have no preference on the pattern, as long as it looks nice. Is there anything you can tell me regarding materials or technique, or perhaps some books with information on basic pattern welding?

Thanks! I thought it would be way beyond my capacity. It was a future project anyway, once I gained more experience. Unfortunately I wouldn't be able make the course as it is right in the middle of my GCSE exams, but I'll keep my eye open for opportunities during the summer. I remember seeing someone make a cross-peen hammer out of steel billets of different length to make the profile of the hammer which were then stacked to make a very thin hammer that looked like it had been stretched taller out of proportion.Then the billets were forge welded together to make a solid block with the rough shape of the hammer which could then be refined. Is that a technique you use?

In my quest to make all the tools I'll be using myself, the question of forging a hammer came up. I've been using the book "Basic Blacksmithing" as a guide to forging most of my tools, but I was hoping for something a little more in depth. I understand the basics of starting off with a half-shaft, making the initial hole with an eye chisel, then opening it up with an eye drift, but I was hoping for something a little more in depth. Perhaps with reference to controlling the weight of the finished hammer or referencing a few more varieties. Also, a little more information on what is required would be useful, considering the heaviest hammer I own is a 2lb ball pein, so I'm unsure whether or not it is possible with what I have. I'd like to make a 3lb cross-pein and a ~10lb sledge. Any good books or resources you would recommend?

As someone mentioned, Mjolniir wasn't a war hammer, but a blacksmithing hammer. I believe the dwarves were forging a sledgehammer, but Loki distracted them by turning into a fly which meant the handle was too short.

I have just started blacksmithing with the intention of becoming a bladesmith. I have been reading "The Complete Bladesmith" which I have found to be very informative and enlightening, however there is a lot of equipment that is described as 'required' that I don't have yet. The biggest concern for me is the 'requirement' of a belt grinder. I have a 6" bench grinder that I would have thought would be able to do most of the work depending on the type of disk, would I be able to manage with that? I wouldn't really mind hand filing, but I would have thought the right selection of grinding disks would be able to do the same job. I'm stabbing in the dark here, perhaps a more experienced bladesmith could let me know what they would recommend. I may well invest in more equipment as I progress, but space and budget constraints mean I will be sticking to the bare minimum for the time being!