matt993fod

Sounds heavy as xxxx. I own a two handed bastard sword that weighs 2.5lb. Looks nice, though.

Practice them both. They're both smashing.

Absolutely ADORE walnut handles. My favourite hardwood for handle making. Beautiful knife.

I use a snap on Dual action sander (air powered) for LIGHT stock removal (using a coarse, i.e. 60, 80, 120 or 180 grit sanding disc) and intermediate polishing. This is different from the sander in your pic (but is a similar principle) as it is a hand held tool that takes abrasive sanding discs. A sander like this would normally be used for bodywork prep and paint removal in an automotive sprayshop. It is a good CHEAP (but only compared to) substitute to belt sanding or grinding equipment that you can MAKE DO WITH if you are a beginner, but can only do so much. I still like them, though. They can do a nice polish if you have the skill to keep them flat.

And you're a blacksmith?! For shame, Don A. :-D lol, just joking. As blacksmiths, we can afford to invent different uses for our tools. After all, if they break, we can make new ones! :-) I am not sold on the legends of the bowie knife. After all, there has been so many different "bowie" knives made since, it is next to impossible to know what the exact style or construction of the original blade could have been. At best we can do what has already been guessed here, and guess based on common materials and construction techniques available at the time.

Fantastic shape! Very well done on a first class piece of forging. I am not sure why you chose to differentially harden, though. On a deep hardening steel like 5160 you would find it incredibly hard to get any sort of hamon besides a vague smoky line. It just doesnt like it very much! If you have got a hamon, give yourself a pat on the back! Personally, if I wanted a soft spine and hard edge with a steel like 5160, in this blade style, I would have through hardened the whole piece, then drawn a differential temper by tempering normally, then drawing back the spine of the blade (with a blowlamp) with the edge held in a bucket of cold water. I digress. Whatever works for you, you stick with. :)

Ah well. My Dads' an old git, so I shant be so lucky.

To be honest, it would be extremely foolhardy to play with something as poisonous as mercury and not expect something bad to happen. Don't go there. You'll just die.

WHOA! How many heat treating steps have you been doing?!?!? Really, 1040 is the simplest of steels. So little carbon that it really isnt that fussy. Simply normalize, heat to the point that the steel no longer exhibits magnetism, then quench in strong brine. You can get away with a brine quench on such a low carbon steel. Always test to make sure your hardening was successful. The file test is a good way to ROUGHLY make sure your blade is hardened. Tempering to 545 degrees F is WAY too high for such a steel. It would never hold an edge! For a steel like 1040, you really only need to temper to a light yellow, simply as a light stress relieving process. Temper at 350-400 degrees F for about 30-45 minutes. An hour if you are particularly nervous about toughness. Good luck!

Love it! Why would you want to change it so badly?! It looks great! No reason why peening shouldnt work. Just take care not to whack the brass.

Thanks for the clarification, Chuck.

I'm not entirely sure about the whole quench-induced-curvature thing. I've never heard of it in any of the bladesmithing material I have read. "The craft of the Japanese sword" makes no mention of such an occurrence. If the differing expansion rates of mild and HC steel were really pronounced enough to create curvature on a scale like that seen in Japanese swords, surely whenever a pattern welded blade was quenched, it would twist up like a deranged bunch of bananas. These are my thoughts. What do you think?

For a relative beginner like myself, I find rebar quite acceptable, as I have found it easy ish to work with, and quite forgiving. I think this is an important trait in a steel for learning techniques with. If you arent a beginner, however, then this a defunct way of thinking. Use some nice 70-90 point carbon steel!

Without sounding like a nobber, you started with roundbar, right? I like the differential hardening.

I just sat the knives I have made on the rack. I guess that this didnt affect the temper in any way, since the oxide film was even, and did not conform to where the knife had been sitting on the rack.

Nah, you probably just have higher standards than me! :)

My personal leaning would be a water quench, at between 1400-1500 degrees F.

Higher carbon steels weld at a lower temperature than mild steels, but burn at a lower temperature too... Hence welding carbon steels could be easier in the sense that it can be done at an easier to reach temperature, with less chance of heavy scaling (due to having to use a strong air blast), but is harder in the sense that they are much easier to overdo, and burn. Many other things can go wrong. Most resources I have consulted state that welding carbon steels in the forge is not practical!? I can't agree with this, since many have actually achieved it just fine... So that is why I always find it head-scratching how people are able to do pattern welding at all, since surely the carbon steel would have burned by the time the mild steel is hot enough to weld. Then again, I guess there must just be a really narrow temperature range where welding is actually possible.

I have had no problem with flat grinds at all. What could possibly be hard about them?!? If anything, I have more trouble with hollow grinds. But then, I don't have a belt grinder. I have experimented with them, and found them a pain.

Don't risk it, huh?

I have finally got around to setting up my forge, but the only place I have for a shop is a small chicken shed. It is fairly open to fresh air, but is crampt, so I will be working close to the forge. It is too short for me to use a chimney. Basically, does it sound like I'm going to gas myself?

There must have been some monumental stresses working in the steel for THAT to happen.

If this ends up as nice as the last one, It should be pretty cool.

Nice one as always. I like the idea of a one-sided bevel for a knife. I like cooking, so may try one for myself one day. It'd have to be a left hander, though.

Can you give some background on each piece? I'd like to know what each is intended for etc.