thunderforge777

i keep having the problem of my forged blades breaking because of large grain. i made some that were good and some that broke. its hit or miss. i know because every one that breaks i look at it and see the grain. today i forged a blade from an old nicholson file and it broke in the oil quench. a chunk of it came off and i could see the grain.

i try not to keep them in the fire for very long when i forge them, as little as possible. i normalize 3 times before hardening then tempering. is it the crappy steel files or is it something im doing wrong?

thanks. i just heated up to nonmagnetic and oil quenched them to see if it would help. not sure if the carbon content in these are high enough. they hold their edge ok.

people love them though. both of these are already sold and i got another guy that wants one.

i made these from some old railroad spikes i found. the first is a skinner the second is a tanto. they are the first i have made.

a buddy gave me a piece of tool steel from his the machine shop he works in. he said he thinks its d2 but not sure. most of the stuff they use in their shop is o1, cpm3v, d2, a2, and some other tool steels. ive read the d2 is really hard and tough to forge. i took this piece and wacked it on the anvil a few times with the hammer and it made a dent. seems rather soft. what do you think?

i know theres no sure fire way to know but it doesnt seem hard at all...and that was cold work.

Forged frim a nicholson file turned out well

would this work using some of that cheap mild steel from home depot? that stuff is pretty soft.

oh ok so it would be a file sandwiched between 2 pieces of mild steel then forge welded together?

would be pretty interesting to see this work. ive watched the making of katanas and they do soft core hard edge. this seems similar.

so are you saying hammer them together with some mild steel

im getting old files for cheap off ebay to make blades with. the big 12 inch ones work well but smaller ones not so much. so if i have a bunch of small files left over not big enough, i was thinking i can forge weld them together then hammer out a piece big enough to make a blade. would this work? 

im about to buy a lot of 30 files from this guy and some are big enough and some are too small. id hate to have no use for the small files. i can make blades but ive never forge welded anything.

you didnt state what steel you used, but if they are too brittle to use then  you didnt temper them at a high enough temp. read the heat treat articles in the referance section of the knife making classes for details.

i think it is w2. they are old nicholson files

What did the brake look like?  Could you see a grain (almost sand paper like) or did it look silky?  If you could see a grain you overheated the steel causing grain growth which weakens the steel.  If you've done it properly then the steel will be silky.  Did you polish a section before putting it in temper?  It should be a light straw for a small blade, dark straw for a larger blade.  You might also look into doing a soft back draw for added strength.  I'm sure there's a sticky somewhere here for that.

the break looks grainy. what do you mean by overheated the steel?

when you forge a knife, how do you bevel the blade without curving it? ive only forged 4 knives so far and they have all been curved. when i flatten one side it curves the blade. so how do you make a bevel when you want your knife to be straight? also how thick should the bevel be?

a couple of blades i forged from files keep snapping easy. the tips will break off. i can put it in a vice and put very little pressure on it and it snaps off. i hardened them using oil quench and tempered them in a kitchen oven at 400 deg for an hour. i may have forged them too thin, they were between 2-3mm thick. is it the steel type of the file that is the problem or did i not temper it correctly?

ive got loctite quickset epoxy. if i get another one, what kind should i get?

im making my first deer antler knife. i attached a pic of it. can i use regular epoxy to bond it to the handle?

Brian Brazeal posted on here how to make slitters and drifts. Worth finding it.

i searched but i couldnt find it. can you show me the thread you are talking about? ive got a piece of solid round bar at home i could use to make one. i would rather make one if i can, cause paying 30 bucks for a chunk of steel i could make myself would annoy me slightly. but wouldnt it need to be a certain shape to work properly?

ive got some old ball peen hammers i want to turn into tomahawks. i saw a guy use a bull pin to make the handle hole bigger. what do you guys use and what size should the pin be?

ok thanks for the info. i learned my lesson on that one. so if i quench a blade and it warps again....should i temper, then reheat and straighten and then harden it again, then temper again?

i was hardening a bowie knife i made today. i made it from 5160 spring steel. i heated till it was nonmagnetic, then i quenched it in motor oil. i noticed it was a little warped and bent after the quench but i didnt see any cracks. i put it on the anvil to straighten it out a little and bam it broke in half. i didnt even hit it that hard. what did i do wrong?