metal99

I like how aged it looks honestly it looks like its 3000 years old! :) pretty sweet. I might have to try that to some damascus bolsters i'm making for a friends knife.

Its brutaly strong steel. They use it on some reinforcement bars on cars and even when its thin its very hard to bend with a hammer and forget about drilling it lol. I could be wrong about the blade being boron its just something that I am pretty sure I read a while ago.

Make it as nice as you can and hope your buddy tells everyone all about it! You might get some more customers :) I wonder what steel the blade is made from I read some where that some blades were made from boron steel.

This is excellent work !! Especially for the first attempt. The only thing I would like to make a comment on is that you include some photos of the work in progress. I would like to see some of your methods. I use chainsaw bars to make my Bowie knives and am always looking for ways to improve. (I should talk - haven't taken any of my work, either).

I really wish I would have taken more progress pictures, I posted the only ones I had :( I'm working on number 2 right now its just a stock removal knife that I am making for a friend. I'm going to take more pictures of this one as I go. I wanted to forge this one but until I get set up at my dads place with the forge and stuff I wont be forging much. The first knife I made was small enough that I was able to use the O/A torch in a tiny brick forge setup but for larger blades its just not enough and I'm sure the boss would get mad when the tanks need to be filled up lol.

I just bought some number and letter stamps so now I can try to make my mark. Not sure if I should just use my initials or my full last name. I carved an "O1" stamp a few days ago so I can mark my blades with the name of the steel i'm using. that took alot of work with files to get it right.

You can charge more for custom :)

From some of the reading I have done in the past on some stainless steel you may have actually hardened it from trying to aneal it as if it were a carbon steel. Try sanding it and cleaning it really well. Thro some vinigar on it and see if it gets tarnished that will probably tell you it if was a carbon steel or stainless. I know some of the masonary blades we used at a brick laying job I had were stainless. In all honesty I would just spend the few bucks and buy some new known tried and tested steel from a reputable suplier. I just ordered a 36x1.5x1/8th inch 1095 for less then 12 dollars and 22x2x3/16 O1 tool steel for less then 25 bucks. I might be way out to lunch on what I said about the anealing on that saw blade but I'm pretty sure there are some stainless steel's out there that do harden on a really slow cooling from above critical.

I like it Jeddly Looks good with that satinwood. On the handle I made for my first knife I used minwax tung oil sanded in and worked up to 2000 grit (over kill maybe?) and it came out almost polished after 5 or more coats and a good hand rub with cotton. I have been drooling about getting a belt grinder for so long already. I have thought about building one but just the contact wheel alone is a bit much for me right now. I'll stick to my files and hand held bnd 1/2" knife wrecker belt sander with 1 grit belts . . . the rock they glued onto my belts leaves some really fun scratches to hand sand out lol. Ok maybe there not 1 grit there 60 but thats the finests belts I have lol. For a free hand grind you did awsome man!

Just noticed I cant spell lol "I'll so dome more tests" in my last post made me laugh lol. I cant edit it for some reason . . .

Metal99 thanks for the info and I would love to see that knife send me a photo brandonmistler@yahoo.com

Ever since starting this knife I have read about knife making every day for about 4 hours a day! lol I stay up wayy to late reading the forums and watching youtube vids. I started a thread on that knife so here's the link for the thread the pics are there. Its nothing special but its functional. I used a "mistery" steel for the blade wich was not a smart move it took alot more work to find the right heat treating.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/26289-my-very-first-knife/page__p__266066#entry266066

I helped a friend of mine do some meat cutting this winter. He asked me to bring over my sharpening gear so I did. When I got there he was just getting started the cutting all I could hear after each slice was TINK slice TINK slice TINK he was using a glass cutting board . . . I bit my tongue . . .

Honestly tho, It takes one amazing steel to cut much and still shave. I have one knife that I can widle for most of the day and "strop" a couple times right on my jeans and be able to shave (I swear there is no compound on my pants) lol The only drawback to that knife is it chips like glass. I have re-ground the tip a few times on it. Then again I am sort of hard on knife shaped pry bars. . .

Well I am using 1095 and 5160 spring steel, I know my forge gets to forge welding temperatures an I plan on using 20 mule team powder as my flux between my folds. I honestly have assumed it was simply welding to pieces together getting them hot enough to forge weld them together and continually foldin the layers into one another. I assume by your post it must be more than that. I have access to a world renown knife maker who has been helping me along but sometimes I feel bad asking him with the petty details so that is why I joined this forum so I could get help from lots of guys who know how to do things or are just learning like myself so any links hints or ideas are much appreaicated Thanks in advance

You might have some problems with the 1095 and 5160 I believe they dont share quite the same heat treating

Basically I have a new forge and some good metal for making Damascus am I insane for trying to do this by hand. What do I need to be prepared for. And any hints that could get me moving in the right direction

Hey man, 4 years ago I came to this forum and started the exact same thread almost!!!! The only difference was I didnt even have a forge!!!! lol Needless to say I didnt get the help that I wanted at the time but I didn infact get the best advice I could have been given at that time. I will share that same advice with you. Oh and I still havent done any forge welding I know the basic theory through and through but have yet to apply it.

The best thing you can do in your situation is read, honestly man read lots and lots. Watch lots of videos, go to the liabrary and get some books. There is so much information just sitting there waiting to be read and a huge number of posts on forums around the world asking and discussing the same questions. I'm not saying you shouldnt try it, if your determined to, your going to and honestly go ahead if you really want to but don't expect to much. I'm not saying that you wont be able to pull it off but educating yourself is a really good start.

If you already have a forge you should go get some scrap in smaller sizes and practice moving metal under the hammer. Its fun and will really help. Trust me keeping something square is harder then it looks espicially after a couple or 50 swings of a lead feather light hammer. Honestly man i'm pretty green myself but I have spent the past 4 years reading almost every day on alot of knife related smithing. I made my first forged knife with a huge success just finished it a few weeks ago. Have fun with it take any advice as positive advice even if it seems like there putting you down, its still got some usable advice.

Pretty nice man! o1 hey dont see that very often in damascus looks good! How thick was the stock of o1 and 15n20?

Its funny how things work sometimes, I have spent the past couple days trying to figure out how to make my mark on my blades. I tried researching it here on this forum and on google with few results so I came up with my own way of doing it. I thought I was really onto something great here that I could share with everybody!!!! Turns out it was the exact same method shown in the video above . . . oh well thats ok tho now I know it will work for me! I'm going to make it out of some oil hardening drill rod wich I believe is if I am not mistaken O1 tool steel.

I know this is an old thread but just in case somebody stumbles across it I wanted to share this, You should try out a body file for doing body work that would leave a really neat design when finished like that. Here's a link to what I'm talking about.

http://www.race-werks.com/product_images/g/517/SVST-PBF4-Panzer-File__69183_zoom.jpg

Hey Metal99, I have a question. It is in regards to your journey to where you are now in metal working. Did you get sidetracked by the alure of working hot metal under the hammer during your quest for knife production? I ask because I got started in blacksmithing because I was getting into wood carving and found that the best and most expensive were produced by hand by blacksmiths. So, I figured that with enough study and work I could produce some chisels that would at least be usable. What ended up happening is that the hot metal kinda took over and I never really got to the chisel production. Just droped the wood carving and went with blacksmithing. Great story by the way, it really goes to show where real motivation can come from! It also shows that some whom first appear to be "a waste of time" , are actually often the most worth while of attention. Caleb Ramsby

Caleb, I started with stock removal blades wich were no good because I was only using mild steel. Quite a few years ago I ran into a situation while repairing a truck box that I needed to modify a pry bar to get in and pop out a dent. So I grabbed the O/A torch, heated it up and shaped it to what I needed. Thats when I relized "WOW that was cool" I then proceded to play around with the torch and make some things. After a lot of reading and building up some tools for metal working I am almost ready to start going as a full time hobby. It was around that time that I popped in here and asked how to make damaskus. Now I feel bad for barging in and asking. I feel that I am on the right track now because of all the reading and trial and error and more error.

. Metal99, glad you made the trip back. Also glad you have learned. Your posting is a prime example to read.

Thank you Ten Hammers I am glad to be back.

Thanks Glenn! I'm glad I came back. Always something interesting to read here :) lots of good people too.

Just spent the past couple hours reading this thread and wanted to share my "tell me how its done" experiance.

I have always wanted to make knives and have attempted with no knowledge making a few crude knife shaped objects. A little over four years ago I was looking at some pattern welded blades at our local knife store and decided I wanted to make something like that. So four years ago I joined this forum. I started a thread that I wish I could delete. I straight up asked how to make damaskus steel. I spent a few minuts reading about it and just up and asked my question in this forum.

Although the answers to my thread were far from what I expected it was indeed the best advice I have been given. Graham Freeden and a few others gave me the best advice. They told me on other words to stop what I was doing. That I should slow down, read read and read. Then I should learn basic smithing skills and take it slowly learning one step at a time. Remember this was four years ago. So at the time I took the advice a little on the harsh side, I was not rude to them when replying to the thread and in fact thanked them for the tips. I was upset that I was not going to get the damaskus tips I was looking for and never came back to this forum till a couple months ago.

I have spent the past four years reading and talking to the few people I know that have had some black smithing experiance. I have read and studdied so much in the past four years and just a couple months ago I felt ready to attempt my first forged blade. I came back to the forum and re-read my first thread and shook my head. . . The questions I was asking made me turn red! They did not make any sence and if they did they were so basic that it really made me look stupid. So I messaged Graham back and thanked him for his great advice. The reading I have done in the past few years has helped me make a decent first knife. I have spent the past couple years playing around with metal, getting the feel for how it moves under the hammer. If every one would have just said "here is what you do" I would have tried it, failed at it and gave up on it. So now I take the time to try to learn things on my own and only try to ask the questions needed to clear up some of the really confusing things that simply do not make sense to me. I usually ask a question and have an answer to go with it just to see if I am on the right track. At the same time sometime I like to try something out first and then try to figure out why it did not go as planned.

I cant wait to use it :) Just trying to source out some more good steel to forge some more blades! I have some leaf springs but I dont know if there going to be any good as far as my research goes I think these ones are 4140 but oh well. Now to make a nice anvil stand :)

Thanks for all the help everyone.

Well today I cleaned it all up and oiled it :) I used worths rost off rust loostener and a wire brush on my drill and it came out pretty good. Then I sanded the face and horn down to 400 grit and called it done. The rust cleaned off better in some spots then others so its a bit blotchy now but oh well I'm happy with it. I'm really starting to get attached to this anvil lol. I told my uncle that I got it all fixed up and ready to go, he was very happy to hear that. He told me I had to name it "Uncle" lol. Here are a couple pictures of the finished product. Thanks again every one for all the great advice.

Awsome man I will check them out right now!

I was kinda thinking that about the 98 but when I looked up what it could mean I didn't really get much info on it. I am soooo happy that it didn't loose the nice ring and rebound like I thought might happen. In the video where I am lightly tapping it with the hammer you can see that when I get closer to the hardy hole the rebound goes away a little bit but with the ball bearing its just as good as anywhere els. I'm happy with it tho I don't think I could get another for that price in nice shape like this one other then being broken in half. Would have you guys payed $40 for it? I love the fact that its from 1899 :)

Here are some pics and a couple videos of the anvil. When you click on the videos please turn your volume way down the ringing was so loud it distorted the sound and made it almost sound like the anvil was cracked or something it gave the video a weird buzzing sound when the ringing got real loud. I know this is a long shot but by the measurments I show here is there any way to tell how many pounds it is? I was thinking it was a 75 pound but after it was welded together . . . I can hardly carry it so I think it has to be 100-120. I don't have a scale and my mom thinks its going to bust hers lol.










http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsD7beZJeY8&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED1N0DCBoow&feature=youtu.be

Cool thats what I will do with it. I might try to go over my welds a bit more to try and hide them better too. Did most trenton anvils have an hour glass shaped hollow on the bottom? I read that the Hey Buddons were hour glass shaped on Bigred101's link and did a quick search on Trenton's shape and although I didn't get much info it seems like the Trentons didn't usually have an hour glass shape. What do you guys know about that? I think I read a while ago that trentons hollow was more round but I have read so much stuff lately I can't really remember . . .