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Hey guys, been a long time since I’ve posted, thought some might be interested in one of my latest little projects. My dad was throwing away a worn out chainsaw chain (too worn to be resharpened). I decided to try and forge it into a knife. first step I simply took the worn dirty chain, and wrapped it in thin steel wire to keep it in one piece. I proceeded to forge weld it, and folded it until I was happy with how solid the billet felt. No cleaning of the steel was required, however a high temperature and proper atmosphere were absolutely necessary, especially at the beginning as it was tricky to stick. Anyways, here’s the finished piece and some progress pictures. Altogether only a couple of hours and gives me some confidence in my forge welding. Tempered at 350f, considering the steel was likely lower carbon, and the feel during sharpening etc I would put the hardness at a maximum of 56-58.

So I've already made a post about using spring steel for a makeshift anvil and welding spring steel. I got a lot of support and help! But I was wondering about heat treating spring steel. So I've heard from a couple different knife makers that spring steel is a pretty good material to make knives out of, but spring steel is already hardened (at least the spring steel I have). So I have a couple of questions: - If your making a knife out of spring steel that is hard enough to dull a drill bit but soft enough to have a file just barely dig into it, does it need to be hardened further? - If it does need to be hardened further, you would need to normalize it first right? But can you normalize spring steel? - If you can normalize spring steel, will it eventually get down to the hardness of mild steel? Or will it always stay harder? - If you can normalize spring steel, does it always remain bendy? Or does it lose its bendiness? - Lastly, is my info correct? Is spring steel a good material to make knives out of? I hope I'm not annoying people about all these spring steel questions Sorry if I am! - Brewny

So I've read through here a few times but I can't seem to find the answer to my question, so, what sort of etch/finish should I use for blades and knives that will prevent rusting but also not ruin the heat treatment? Also, if anyone can tell me how to blacken blades that would be appreciated, as well as if anyone has any information on russeting. Thanks in advance.

“Ghost” 80CrV2 with mild San mai. Approx. 7” blade. 10.75” overall.

with the steel bar obtained forging a rail road clip I made a single-edge push knife. handle scales asymmetrical also in thickness of chestnut briar. brass pins and black-forge finish.

Hello everyone, this is my first time posting on this forum, I started forging as a hobby a couple years ago and I am a beginner in the craft. I forged three blades so far, and only the first didn't break in half and actually made it to being an actual knife, but it was very short in comparison to my third blade. The second blade broke when I tried, foolishly, to straighten it in the vise right after quenching. I come to you for advice on why my third blade broke, so here is the detailed process it went through, from forging to tempering : The steel is from a used crop lifter spring my uncle gave me after it broke : here is a description ; I attached a picture of the specific part I used; I forged it into the rough shape trying to never forge it when it wasn't at least red/orange hot, ground the profile and then the bevels until the cutting edge of the blade was around 1.5 mm thick (thickness of a dime, as many people recommend across all the forums I searched); I use a homemade charcoal forge made of refractory cement bricks; At this point the blade is 14 cm (5.51") long, 24.5 cm (9.65") long in total with the tang, 3 cm (1.18") wide and nearly 4 mm (0.16") thick in the middle with an apple seed grind; I then proceeded to heat it to bright orange before quenching it in brine (10% weight salt solution), as someone recommended on some forum, because oil quenches supposedly too slow for spring steel; the "quench tank" is a piece of PVC pipe It warped badly, so I tried straightening it by first putting it in the jaws of my vise and tightening gently (I didn't hear any cracking noise) right after the quench; Seeing it didn't do anything, I tempered it for 2 hours at 270°C (518°F), tightened between two steel plates; This straightened it a bit, but it was still badly warped, so my plan was to tighten it to a steel plate with a piece of round wire below it to give it some flex in the opposite direction of the warp, and temper it for another hour at 518°F; At this point it started clicking and cracked in half, before I even put it in the oven; Looking at the fracture surfaces, there is a purple coloration in some areas, which means a crack formed before the temper cycle and oxygen got in during the temper cycle (purple corresponding to ~270°C (518°F)). I attached pictures of the fracture surface. My problem here is that I can't determine if this crack originated from the forging or the quench. So I wanted to know if, by looking at it and knowing the process I used, you could help me determine the origins of this crack. By closely looking at the rest of the blade, I can even see another crack, on the same face of the blade as the one who lead to failure. So my conclusion is that the blade would have failed eventually, because there were cracks before the temper. My ideas of improvement are : Quench in oil; I was thinking of canola oil because I have an expired bottle of it; Regularly clean the scale during forging with an angle grinder; Try to straighten only during temper and not in the vise right after quench; I'm in my last year of a material science masters so I have a good understanding of theoretical metallurgy, so don't hesitate to go specific in your explanations. I'm sorry if I sound weird, arrogant or contemptuous but I am French and I don't write or speak English daily. This blade breaking defeated me because I was very satisfied with it. This broke my heart. I come here seeking advice in all humility. Thank you very much in advance for your time. ATTACHMENTS : I put my three pictures in this imgur url : https://imgur.com/a/WU0MAOD

I was cleaning my workspace earlier this week and I found a piece of rebar under my anvil stand from my failed attempt at making tongs. I needed to get my friend a Christmas present and I know he likes knives so what happened next is obvious. Took about an hour or two (not counting the time in the oven for tempering) total of work to do. This is my third knife and I think it’s better than my first and failed second attempts. The reason the blade looks cracked is it wasn’t cleaned off completely in the photo. I wish I had an anvil with a hardy hole and some hardy tools; it would have made bending the handle much easier. The tip was purposely not worked much because I didn’t want to screw it up with barely any charcoal left and Home Hardware closed for Christmas. This wasn’t meant as a heavy-use item otherwise I’d have made it from one of the HUGE leaf springs I got for free. What do you think of it?

Hello to you all! I've realize this little new friend from a forge weld test, and it look quite good to use! I will spend much more time sharpening it with some stone!

Hi all, this is my first post here. I've been working with steel as a blacksmith and welder for about five years and have made a few knives from 1085 and 1095. I have some 15n20 that I am going to use to make my first attempt at pattern welding and wanted to know if anyone has ever used 15n20 as a blade. My thought was to make a shaving razor, and it would probably hold up better than a carbon steel under the conditions. Has anyone used 15n20 as a blade steel and if so what was your experience with it?

First blade of 2019! W2 cutting edge stacked with a twist core and wrought iron spine. Blade was deeply hot blued then sanded back ever so gently to make the pattern pop. Cast bronze fittings with buffalo horn. Theo

How much would you pay for this knife i have carried it for a while and friends and family ask me how much for a knife like that and i do not know what to give them for a price...i do not want to over price it nor under price my work so can anyone help oh and its 1095 steel with kirinite scales and that is the only pic i have of it new

Last blade of 2018, woot! Happy new year yall! Forged 80CrV2 full tang drop point with hamon. The blade is blued for added protection against the elements. Handle is buffalo horn with 3D printed cast bronze fittings - I like to leave a bit of the casting texture on the bronze for character. See ya next year! Theo

I am happy to finally show off the economy custom chopper series we've been working on the past six months! The blades are all 80CrV2 high carbon tool steel forged to shape, rough ground, and heat treated by yours truly; then final ground and assembled by Justin Kirck, who also made the leather sheathes. Handle materials include stabilized burls, hybrids, micartas, and hardwoods. While this isn't the completed set, the choppers here are great representation of the fun materials we got to play with. Truthfully, and I will only say it here; this was way more work than we thought it was going to be, and we struggled to keep up with the timeframe the whole time. Who knew teaching and do a run of knives would be a lot for just two people?! :3 More collaborations are on the horizon, I will keep yall in the loop! TheoRockNazz.com - JustinTheBlacksmith.com

Pair of ulu’ish knives diffrentialy tempered 1095 brass and cocobolo left them in the etch a little too long but they ended up really pretty anyway du

So i made myself a chefs knife out of o-6 tool steel being lazy i did not want to drag out the forge just to heat treat one knife so i grabbed my torch and went with a simple diffrential heattreat not expecting anything other than function.... this is what i got. Once i realized i had a hamon... my first all be it boring as no clay was involved i had to go all out on the fittings. I went with solid copper scales soldered to the tang then hammered and polished the blade was etched in my vinigar picle bath i use for removing scale 10 min then rubbed with silk then 10 min soak anout 6 cycles Tell me what ya think du

It seems I have been a good boy this year!! I just received my copy of " Introduction to Knifemaking" by Steve Sells. I wasn't expecting it until January, this is a nice surprise indeed. Thanks again for all the hard work you put into this book Steve, it is greatly appreciated. John

Hiya folks, I had a day all to meself at the shop few days back and made an incense holder and a housewife's knife for my better half. The incense holder looks a bit too short here, I had no measurement for it, just went by feel. It turned out allright though, all the ashes have been caught so far. I made the knife from a piece of old hay rake spike, hardened and tempered. More on the type of knife: https://nordiskaknivar.wordpress.com/2013/12/28/emannanveitsi-womans-knife/