evant

Well 220 grit should be fine for finishing your blades, just make sure that the scratches run parallel along the blade edge and spine prior to quenching, that should help prevent any stress cracks from forming along the edge and spine, just a tip, hope this helps.

Thanks reefera4m, this really helps, I'll defenitely have to try sandblasting the tang, thanks for the tips!!

Well the blade flexed about 30 to 40 degrees or so, I didn't temper the back portion of the blade to a blue color which would have made it flex more, because this was mostly for me to test the cutting edge. I did temper the blade to a light straw just to test the cutting edge and it seemed to do pretty well. Also the camera might make the color appear just a little different then it actually was because of the lighting, but I was curious, how you can tell if the grain is too hard?

Hi everyone, just thought i'de share results of a knife i forged not to long ago, I havn't completed many blades fully yet, attaching handles etc, because i like to test the steel to see if it performs well. Which reminds me if anyone can help, what is good epoxy for the handle material that dries clear? This blade was forged from 1095 carbon steel, i'm hoping to find some 1080 0r 1084 steel though, although i havn't had much luck. Overall the blade achieved its goals, i took the blade and whittled on some wood for a while, then i chopped on some wood, after that the blade still was shaving. Then i took the blade and snapped it to see the grain structure, the grain appeared as a velvety grey color, in the picture below, which was good. Overall I was pleased with the blade and am going to attempt some more blades hopefully soon, I'm going to create some blades and see if they pass the ABS tests that are performed. Thanks for reading and any thoughts, questions, or critiques are welcome.

I was reading some posts and doing some research and I found when quenching in used motor oil that it emits carcinogens, which are hazardous to your health. I've been using a motor oil and diesel mixture for my blades for some time now, and have been exposed to these fumes sometimes. I was just wondering if anyone had any safer oil formulas that work well for quenching knives, I've heard of using quenchants such as vegatable oil, etc, but was afraid the oil too be to thin causing blades to crack. The steels I use are 1095,5160, and L-6 steel. Any advice would be appreciated on this matter.

Hello everyone, I was just curious about an idea I had, I have a piece of railroad track and i was just wondering if it would make a good axe head if i forgewelded a bit of high carbon steel for the blade edge. I'm just wondering because I planned on forging a few camp axes eventually. I'm not sure of the carbon content of the track yet because i havn't tested it yet. Also any suggestions on steels for an axe head would be appreciated, i was thinkin about 1050?

Thanks for the posts guys, they've given me a better idea of how i'm going to make my sis kabobs.

Hi everyone, I was just wondering if anyone could offer some advice about a steel choice for a sis kabob. I'm going to make this as a gift for the holidays and I was just wondering about any suggestions on what steel to use, since it would be washed and exposed to water. I've got some low carbon rod in the pile, but I'm afraid it would rust too readily. Also any ideas on handle material? i wanted a real traditional, maybe wood handle for the kabobs. Any advice towards this project would be greatly appreciated.

Hello everyone, I've been looking around on this site and really enjoy what I have seen. I've been forging now for about a year and a half, and really enjoy it very much!! I'm glad to have found this site and so many people interested in forging as well. Thanks to everyone on this site for the posts, they really help a lot!