Saiga308

Hey folks!
Here is my first attempt at a big forged blade.
Steel: 5160
Blade: 12-1/2" convex grind recurve
Handel: 6" long
Scales: Home made micarta out of epoxy and cotton flannel strips
Pin: 1/4" stainless steel tubing

This was a Fathers day present to my Dad, and I am really happy how it turned out. The blade is much more lively in my hand than I thought it would, and it pops hairs all the way!

#15 - Blacksmith Photo Gallery

#15 - Blacksmith Photo Gallery

#15 - Blacksmith Photo Gallery

#15 - Blacksmith Photo Gallery

Welcome! I have seen your stuff on Hoods, very nice! The folks here are very helpful and some of the stuff they make is amazing.....you found a good spot.
JLane

Hey folks,
I have been itching to hammer out some khukri style blades, but I am worried about the heat treatment. I understand that the kamis who make them use water out of a kettle and pour it onto the hot blade...I guess they do this edge up? I would like to be able to heat the whole thing to critical temp and then harden the edge, and leave the back softer, but because of the curve of the spine I cannot do this, my tang would be as hard as the edge.:confused:
So how do you folks deal with curvy blades?

Hey folks, I just gave my first try at etching some 5160, ball bearing, nickel Damascus. I mixed 2qts of distilled vinegar with 15 oz of lemon juice and a 5lb bag of table salt. I mixed it together and got it to a slow boil, and after about 20 minuets I wiped the blade down with acetone and submerged it into the simmering concoction.
After about 8 minuets I took it out and washed it off with water and detergent, and then covered it in oil. I think it turned out pretty good:D, I am saving the mixture to use at a later date.

Wow, that's a beaut! I have made flutes out of Zebra Wood before, great stuff and very tough.

The folks who made the Damascus got back in touch with me, very nice folks. A gentleman named Brad said to go ahead and try another blade off of the billet and if there was still a problem to send it back. He also named a knifemaker nearby who could give me some tips if I had anymore questions. I think my next one I will use a file to remove most of the material instead of forging, if that splits too, I will be more comfortable sending the it back.

Here are some pics. I will write them and let them know about the split, but since there is a chance it could be all my fault I am not expecting a whole lot. I have enough steel to finish the blades that were ordered, but I think I will go with stock reduction this time.:mad:

Hey Folks, I got a little problem. A freind of mine ordered some Damascus steel from a supplier and sent it to me to make a few knives for him. I took a hack saw and cut out the first blank and forged the blade, then I cleaned it up with file work and sandpaper. As I was cleaning it up I notice a small gap in the steel the complete width of the blade, and also that you could see a visible black line connected to the gap that went almost the entire lenght of the knife. The next step was my heat treat and after I pulled the blade out of the oil I noticed that right behind the choil the black line had seperated! I now had a blade with a gap a couple of millimeters wide!:mad:
This is the first time I have messed with Damascus, so I am not sure if this was something I did, or that the steel had one layer in it that did not fuse well together during its forging. Any ideas? Will this happen on any blade that I make from this blank?

Thanks for the kind words folks!

very cool design, Is the front edge sharp too.
Nitro

Yes, the front is a convex grind like the rest of the blade. My next one is going to have Ebony scales and I am trying to find some stainless 1/4" tubing for the pins!

Thank you so much for the info! 91# seems right as I don't bust my gut when I lift it. If you could find out the date on it that would be fantastic!

Here are some pics ....

I just wanted to say thanks for all the info and help I got earlier this year from you folks, I have been busy for awhile now hammering blades!
Here is some of them:

Again, thanks for all the info and help! In my (very little) spare time now, I can create good tools and hammer out my thoughts.

Hey folks I have a anvil that I am trying to find out the age of. The top is 3 1/2" X 13", and on the right side there is a diamond with "trenton" in the middle. Above the diamond is some letters but I can only make out, S........O.." Below that is stamped "USA", and below that is "91". On the bottom of the base under the horn say "T" on the left and "A804" on the right side.
If you guys have any ideas of how old this anvil is and the weight I sure would appreciate the info!:D

Guys thanks so much for the info! I am giving some real thought to making my own mark now. The idea of making a hot chisel stamp sounds like fun......time consuming, but fun! Again, thanks so much......and when I am all set I will post some pics.;)

Hello folks, I got a question about putting your mark on a blade. What different methods are there? I tried to use stamping on an annealed blade but it did not go very deep and because the grind was convex, only part of it showed up at all. I have seen some makers use what looks like bluing to write their name, like the Boss heat treating mark.....how do they do this?
So what do you folks use, or what would you recommend? Thanks in advance for the help!:D

My Dad really liked the fixed blade pocket knife I forged the first time, so I hammered him out one too. The steel is 1/2" round bar and I used red spacer material and Bocote wood for the handle. I tried to taper the spine from about midway forward and to the back, I also made the edge convex, including the chisel. The sheath is Kydex, the trick was getting it to form a clamp that will grip the top seam of the front pants pocket so that it will stay put and not slide around. Anyway it was a lot of fun and I am already looking at the last piece of steel I have thinking, what if....?
Here are some pics

I finally got to do some cutting today with my first forged blade. I started out battoning it thru some dry white oak fire wood, and then battoning thru the pieces, after that I found a nice little sapling and battoned thru it and then chopped off all the limbs and cut it to length. Next I made a little stake and hammered it into a stump deep enough that I could chop the knife into the stake and it would stay.
It was a little cold outside for my son and I so I decided to try out the BSA striker cut that was on the back of the blade. I used the flat end to scrape off some cedar bark and then collected some twigs. I pushed the flat end into the stump and held onto the handle with my weak hand, and then drew the metal match across the scalloped edge with my strong hand, having pushed the cedar tinder nest right against the blade. After I found my sweet spot on the edge the sparks flew! Very soon I had a nice little fire going on the stump and my knife did not have a rolled edge for once. So after all that cutting the edge could still shave, and I was a very happy new owner.
I even went so far as too chop up a deer thigh bone from November that the dogs had drug into the yard. After a few minuets of fast chopping all up and down the blade, the edge was finnaly dinged up. The little dings were so small though that It only took a few passes on my Eze-lap to get the edge back up to scary sharp! I also did the same test with my CS Master Hunter, there were more dings on that blade and they were bigger, is it sad that it made me smile?

Nice work, Saiga. What was the parent metal used? Known or unknown? Looks like it took a very nice polish, also.

Forge on!

Thanks for the kind words folks! The metal was a piece of 1/2" round bar steel that I had welded together in shop class back in 1990....I was a terrible welder but since it was the only welding that I had done I kept the piece in my shop. It is VERY heavy for its size, but I don't know what it is.:confused: I did press the edge sdieways against a brass bar to see if it would chip or get bent, but it came back to true so I am hoping that I lucked out and got the heat treat right.
I cut that original bar into 3 blanks, so if this one goes well I will keep using it for the next two. I have some Bocote wood, and some Pink Ivory!:D

I just finished forging my first knife today from

irst off, thank you all so much for your help getting this forge up and running. OK, I took the tub off and used it for a place to bust charcoal up. Once I put enough charcoal on the forge it runs great, and it is much quieter now that I replaced the hair dryer with a squirrel cage on a dimmer switch. I also moved the Anvil closer and put a fan behind me trying to keep as much clean air coming at me as possible.
I do have some more questions,
I am using 1/2" round stock, any idea what type of steel this should be and how I should quench it? Water or oil?
I keep reading about soaking the charcoal in water before use to keep the sparks down, do I just spray it on, or do I dump the coal in a bucket of water?


Here are some pics
First off is the old tub and the charcoal bag, I am using an old plow share that I found 90% buried in the woods as my crusher, it works great! I wounder how old it is?
Photo 1

Here is the squirrel cage
Photo 2

Here is the new anvil location, the only ID I can find on it is on the base under the horn, it says T A80 4
Photo 3

I am working on my first blade right now, I hope to have some more pics tomorrow.

Thanks everybody for the info, funds are a little low and I don't have access to a welder so I am kinda going with what I have got for right now. The first thing I did after reading about problems with using the tub was to start a hot fire in a burn barrel with some firewood and after it got good and hot I left the tub on it to burn off as much of the shiny as I could. It worked really well, 98% of the finish was gone when I went back out a couple of hours later. I am planning on taking the tub off and trying just the old hub again too, because I have learned that the first time that I tried to use the original forge I did not use near enough charcoal. Today I was able to heat up the 1/2 round stock and cut it into lengths, I also got the steel hot enough to work with much easier. My biggest problem it that time just seems to fly by while I am working on this stuff, if it had not been for my two little helpers I would have forgotten about lunch! I am ashamed of the condition I let that anvil get into, it was never left out in the elements, but it was left untouched in the shed for years, I am going to make her shine again. Also when I do I will post any markings that are on it. Anyway I just wanted to update you folks with some pics and thank you again for all of your help so far.:D

I am about 7 miles NW of there along the Finley river, but I was raised along the Douglas/Ozark border...the closest place on the map was Almartha and Rock Bridge. Great place to grow up, just no work!

I was wondering about that myself, is there a way of telling if the tub is getting hot enough to put off fumes? The ash of course is there to insulate the tub, but is there a tell tale sign that its getting too hot? So far (one entire fire!) the sides did not discolor, or seem to really get hot. Do they make these tubs out of other material....this is the only type I think I have seen. Thank you all for the info!:)

Hello! I put my forge together today so I decided to post some pics. I have had the base for years, it is from a model T wheel, that I put some cement in to protect the metal. Since I have a tape showing Tai Goo's forge so I decided to copy that design, I used a wash tub, and put together a twier out of steel pipe about 18" long with a slit down the center. I can put a plug in the "T" connector and just use half of the twier also. I am using a hair dryer for right now for a blower, but I would like to switch a squirrel cage on a controller. Right now I am working with 1/2" round steel, trying to flatten it out into a blank for a knife. I am wondering...how much lump coal do you usually put in the forge for this type of project. I can get the steel to a bright red, but it cools quickly and seems to take a while to heat back up. I am only using a small pile of coal and I "think" I would do better with a larger pile to start. My next step is to try to fit my hot cut chisel into the hardy hole with the edge up so that I can try to cut this bar. Right now I am having a real hard time cutting the bar by holding the chisel with tongs. Anyway enjoy the pics!

I live about 26 miles East SE of Springfield in the country, but I grew up in Douglas aka:"Booger" County.
I work for the Fire Dept. in Springfield and my Wife works for the local hospital. I just got back from the Hardware store, I am upgrading my forge today. Hopefully I will have some pics to post later on!