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I Forge Iron

Incaratus

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    Netherlands, EU
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    whack whack

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  1. sorry, I missed that post! Frosty, I did have a look at Charle's article, I will study it into further detail. As your comment regarding the term 'radius', I'm afraid that got lost in the minor language barrier, I meant the angle of the cutting edge. I haven't fully read up upon this treasure of knowledge within this forum, pardon me when I get my terminology wrong every now and then
  2. Hi everyone, As promised, hereby an update after following up your feedback. At first, I tried my filing jig to change the edge angle from 80* to 60* (special thanks to @Charles R. Stevens). As it turns out; hand filing an already hardened blade edge is hard work . As I've decided to use this blade as a practice piece, I resorted to my small belt grinder which I initially only used for wood, which turned out quite great (thanks for the suggestion, @Jclonts82) ! I was able to form an actual edge, including a burr. I nailed a piece of leather to a slab of wood (again, thanks @Charles R. Stevens and @Frosty) for stropping purposes, and was able to finally sharpen my first knife properly! Hurray! I am so glad that this worked out well, I couldn't have done it without you guys. @SLAG: thanks for your suggestions too, although I will skip the buffer from this point, as my blade is now sharp enough to shave an ant's armpits. -- What I've learned from this: - The secondary bevel is not created in the sharpening phase, it actually requires seperate attention before proceeding to the actual sharpening - the cutting edge radius can actually be too wide: 80* is unbelievably hard to sharpen, whereas 60* was way easier. - as you can see on the picture below, my knife cheeks are way too thick, making the secondary bevel way higher up than I'd like it to. - stropping was much easier when the leather is nailed to wood - I should have waited with fitting the handle once I've finished sharpening the steel ( in the pic, now preventing me from sharpening the bit between the sharp edge and the handle) and last, but most importantly: - you guys are awesome thanks a lot for your help! I will share future projects on this forum as well. read this TLDR: Success!! thanks to you guys I will improve upon my sharpening in the next project, as this was great practice
  3. Thanks, Charles! I'll get back to you after those tweaks!
  4. I will take that into consideration, thank you for the suggestion!
  5. good, I now have a few things I will do, because of all your advice: I will use my filing jig to change the angle of my cutting bevel to about 60* (30* each side) I will nail a piece of leather to a wooden block for proper stropping methods I am planning to purchase a proper set of sharpening stones (best one I could get my hands on goes up to 200 grit at best) and proceed until an actual burr can be felt I will postpone futher polishing the blade surface, until I get my edge nice and sharp (prioritizing here) I will post in this topic as soon as I have an update to share the results. Thank you all for your insights and your willingness to help me out!
  6. I did not know this, thank you for the insight! I made one for my cheeks ( @Frosty thanks for the term) , similar like this one, though I did not use that jig for my cutting edge bevels. Might this be it? I might've become a bit enthousiastic with the amount of responses there
  7. I will try this method, I did not try this before. I do own a large scale of abrasive sheets (3M, unsure what it's made of) varying between 400, 600 and 1000 grit wihch should work. I wasn't sure the angle was measured at both sides, my mention before was based on 40* each side, so 80* on the entire edge. which might be a bit chunky, admittably. I will try to bring this to 30* each side, and try sharpening with abrasive papers on a backing (thanks for explaining me what that is ) I will therefore begin with establishing a proper burr at 30*. @ all: thanks for the overwhelming amount of replies and support, much appreciated!
  8. ground out my basic shape, annealed it once to remove any stresses, went to heating it up just after it went non-magnetic, and quenched in oil. right after the quench my file skidded off nicely, unable (and still unable at this time) to dig into the metal. after, It went into the oven twice for one hour at 200 degrees celsius (which should be about 400 degrees fahrenheit)
  9. Your post just appeared after my reply It's 01 tool steel (1.2510 / 100MnCrW4). My edge is hardened, though I do not own anything that can give me an HRC number. a file skids off nicely though. The angle is about 40 degrees (admittably a bit steep, as I mentioned in my previous post) and tried every technique listed in my earlier post.
  10. Thanks for your replies! I am aware of this. Unfortunately, the finish was much smoother before, but I screwed it up while sharpening it. I redid the finish to an acceptable level, though you're absolutely right. I am using O1 tool steel. I define sharp as being able to cut as well as a standard pocket knife. I found it difficult to use this right away, primarily because my bevels get sloppy. My current bevels were mainly done by hand, whereas I finished it with the slow grinder to even out the scratches. This way, I had a flat surface as an indication for my bevels. Is really hard to come by here, I will expand my search outside of my country for this, and see what I can find. for now, I've been using the standard sanding paper from my hardware store. This got me thinking; My cutting edge has a pretty steep angle (about 40 degrees), might this be the reason why I seem to be unable to sharpen it? Might my blade be too thick? I am unfamiliar with the term ' backer', could you elaborate? I (think I) can see a burr, though cannot feel it, even after repeated grinding or sharpening efforts. This is after heat treating, which would make me think that a burr would be very minimal with hardened steel; though I am unsure what to look for as I lack the experience.
  11. Hi everyone, I'm new here. I'd like to jump in straight away with an issue I've been having for the last few weeks, and I'd like to request your feedback accordingly. I've started forging knives in my backyard since about a year now. I've been able to make about a dozen knives. I had to throw away a few, as they were mainly for practice in order to improve my skills. I Own a small propane forge (big enough for knives, too small for hammers), have a small anvil (15kg), and thoroughly enjoy the whack whack bit and the wood work finish for the handle. I do not own a proper belt grinder. I use files, a disc grinder and a small 300 rpm 910x100 mm belt grinder for the wood work. It's the finishing that I struggle with. Obviously I am not looking for a perfect shine, or a rediculously detailed finish (since I do not own a fancy belt grinder), though I'd like to be able to at least deliver a knife of which I can be happy with and cut things properly with. Until know, only one of my knives " sorta" fits here. While creating my most recent knife (see attachment) I was able to create proper bevels, and with it made my first hidden tang knife. Though achieving those bevels with lots of effort, sweat, and profanity, its achievement only feels minor compared to my thrive to improve. The biggest struggle is the sharpening. none of my knives cut properly (which is kinda their purpose), no matter what I do. I've been trying a converted bench grinder (MDF sharpening disc setup I found on youtube somewhere), sharpening stones, a kitchen knife sharpening rod, a buffing wheel, bench grinder stones, and in a whiff of dispair even one of those grindy things people use to sharpen their scizzors with. My hours of research browsing through forums have led to unsatisfying results. I am kind of lost here. Finishing my knives towards a final product loses its charm quite quickly, especially now I ruined my most recent knife (see att) desperately trying to sharpen the thing. the corresponding failures keep me from buying a proper belt grinder or expensive sharpening equipment, since I am honestly afraid to lose interest once the failures keep outweighing the achievements. Additionally, forging and finishing equipment is hard to come by in my country, whereas the investment is considerable when I'm going to up my game, and I'm not even sure if buying better equipment will do the trick in the first place. Am I being too ambitious, impatient, unskilled? I don't know. I can only find videos online of either very basic "how to use a hammer and coal" kinda videos or horribly complicating projects of people with years of experience which I one day hope to even come close to. I cannot seem to find anything that can help me proceed. This is where I'd like to ask for your expertise. Did you reach a point where I am now? How did you deal with it? any tips and tricks? let me know. thanks in advance!
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