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Showing results for tags 'steel'.
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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 -
Ok, so most of you would be familiar with the process of case hardening mild steel/iron to form high carbon steel. I had a thought (and we all know how dangerous that is) to use the case hardening technique to adjust the levels of alloying elements in steel. So here's my rough outline of the process that I'm thinking of: 1) Let a piece of steel (any kind, preferably scrap. would be easiest in bar form) sit in a normal camp fire for a good few hours, possibly repeat the process multiple times. I've found that when I have done that, a lot of scale is formed on the surface which when chipped and scraped away, leaves a very black, malleable piece of what I'm assuming is wrought iron. This is used to remove any pre-existing carbon and alloying elements in the steel. (This step can be skipped by just starting with wrought iron bars). 2) Use rough sand paper to scratch the surface of the bar. This increases the surface area of the metal which in theory should allow for a faster reaction (My grade 11 chemistry coming into play) 3) Collect the alloying elements you desire to use, if you're unsure of what you need to make a certain type of steel, you can google the steel composition and elements for the respective steel online. 4) Sand down the alloying elements and collect the filings. You will need the small particles to increase the surface area of the mixture. Depending on the size of the iron bar, you will need quite a lot of filings. This step can be skipped by buying the alloying elements in granulated form, generally pottery stores and firework supply stores will sell metal powders for glazing and firework stars. 5) Measure out the alloying powders by weight for the respective steel you wish to make, then mix the powders with non-raising flour, salt and water. This will create a gooey slurry. 6) Cover the iron bar with the mixture and let it dry. Then once the paste is dry, cover with clay and let that dry. 7) Place in your furnace/forge to heat up. I'm not sure for how long, maybe a few hours once it's red hot. You want the iron bar in the core to heat up a lot. 8) Take the clay pod out once it's finished heating and break out the iron. Quench the new bar in either water or oil or brine, whichever you want. The theory behind this idea is that as the clay pod heats up, the iron will heat to a white/bright orange and the alloy metals will melt and mix onto the semi liquid iron bar. However, this process would only affect the outer layer of the iron bar, so you would either need to use a thinner piece to get full penetration, or you could draw out the bar, fold it over itself and then forge weld it together, like making a Damascus billet. This would result in the alloyed outer layer being mixed in throughout the final bar. So what do you guys think? Would this work, or is it a pipe dream? Also if anyone has a similar process mentioned in the past please feel free to direct me to it to read over. Thanks for your time - White Nomad
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This is a Thor's hammer necklace ( Mjolnir ) I made a while back based on a hammer amulet found in Uppland, Sweden. The hammer and ring are steel, but the oath ring section is riveted with brass and the necklace fittings I made with sterling silver and oxidized them to match the hammer. -
Hand forged leafspring with custom finger guard, mosaic handle pins, redwood burl, custom graphic designs by me. g10 liner on front,back.middles of tang. double edged super penetrator profile for dispatching hogs.© MCGEE RANCH BLACKSMITHING
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McGee Ranch Blacksmithing posted a gallery image in Knives
© MCGEERANCH
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McGee Ranch Blacksmithing posted a gallery image in Knives
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© MCGEERANCH
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McGee Ranch Blacksmithing posted a gallery image in Knives
© MCGEERANCH
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McGee Ranch Blacksmithing posted a gallery image in Knives
© MCGEERANCH
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McGee Ranch Blacksmithing posted a gallery image in Knives
© MCGEERANCH
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McGee Ranch Blacksmithing posted a gallery image in Knives
© MCGEERANCH
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McGee Ranch Blacksmithing posted a gallery image in Knives
© MCGEERANCH
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This was filmed way back in May just after I made the tomahawk mandrel video.. I haven't been feeling inspired to produce videos so this video has minimal edits. 1 to be exact. Been to busy with other things. I left in all the mistakes. which I usually do. It's part of the fun. -
Hey folks, hopefully this doesn't get buried in the shuffle but I had a couple questions about things that I have access to and if anyone has any input. Firstly I can get my hands on ferric oxide powder. I did a few searches without any results as most what came up was about scale. This is a very fine and dry red powder. Also on hand are blanks that go in piping. They are anywhere from 1/4 inch to half inch thick and various sizes. The only marking I see on then is the size. Ex: 2" 150 . Not sure what they're made of and if they could be any good. Thanks in advance! -
Hello all, I'm excited because I have just picked up my first 'real' anvil. It was quite cheap but has to be better than the improvised 'H' beam I have been using. It has a raised casting saying 'HEYFIELD 1CWT' and that's what it weighs. I live in Australia so maybe pretty obscure. It has an obvious casting line and doesn't appear to have a hard face-plate. It looks old "It was my grandfather's" said the vendor. It rings beautifully but has only about 50% rebound. However, right in the working area there are a few hammer marks, semi-circular divots about 1/2 to 1 mm deep. Otherwise the face is flat and quite true. What advice? Live with it as is or attempt to fix. If you think I should 'fix' the face, how? I'm tempted to hammer the hell out of it and see if I can re-form the metal. I am very new to this so I would appreciate any wisdom. I'll post pictures soon. Cheers, Simon
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Hello there, this is my first post to the I forge iron forums. Thank you for any help you can give me in advance. I'm working on forging some rapiers and I have run into an issue. I cannot find for the life of me a website that I can buy some thick sheets or plates of steel for forging out these large clam shell guards. I'm really bad at finding anything on the internet and up until recently I've only ever used salvaged steel in my work. If there are any of you out there that could point me in the right direction of where I could find something like quarter inch thick steel plate I would be very happy. Also, any recommendations on what steel I should use for this guard? It shouldn't be taking much of a beating so I want to be able to do detail work to this to pretty up the piece. I live in Jacksonville Florida so if any of you live nearby and could offer some name up of areas where I can a quote materials that would be very helpful as well.
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Hey guys, I've been looking online and I've seen a few videos on various methods of how to copper plate brass and other things without the need of electricity. I am making a large wire sculpture and wanted to try copper platting, but since the sculpture is huge (6 ft long and 2.5 ft wide) electroplating and chemical baths submersion seem difficult. I've seen a lot about copper sulfate , but is there a formula where you can make a spray/ paint on solution to copper plate steel wire? I'm using 9 guage cold rolled steel. I have already heavily wire brushed it and applied non reactive degreaser. Thanks!
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Does anyone know where to get anvils?
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Hey guys, today I got a new anvil that I bought from a colleg of my father for just 25$. It was covered by thick painting but I removed it and was able to reveal some signs. I also made a video about the sound and the rebound. Perhaps one of you can indentify this anvil and say me what steel/iron it is made of and how much it actually is worth. Here it becomes interesting! I think that the top letters say "1824" -> if that is the production year this is almost antique o_o. And the middle ones seem to say 44 1/2... in kilogramms this would fit pretty good. And there is also a touch mark that looks like a square with two hashes on top. Here I marked the letters that I think I was able to recognize with Photoshop: I was actually impressed by the good rebound! You can also hear the sound (although it got a little scratchy from the microphone in real it is pretty clear!) Ok I would be glad if you can tell me something about this anvil. For me it is a nice little anvil I may take with me to demonstrations or other events that need a portable anvil. Yours - Daniel you may get more answers if you asked in the anvil section, I will relocate for you -
Ok so I built a shop recently for blacksmithing. I needed to make a chimney set up so I took an old water pressure tank and used it as the hood. I have 6" chimney single wall going above the roof. The hood opening is 13" tall and about 14" wide. The hood is also resting on the forge. Anyway when I tried using it smoke did go up the chimney but some would puff out towards the top of the hood. The smoke buildup is not good and hard on my lungs. So my question is what am I doing wrong here? I did a little reading on threads and other websites about the chimney needing to be at least 10" or the hood needs to be lower. I can't make the hood lower without cutting more of the tank off because it is resting on the forge. Or should I scrap the hood and buy a professionally made one with 10" chimney?
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So I have been using a hand crank coal forge for some time now and have been getting tired of starting and maintaining the fire. I've been looking into buying a gas forge and have looked at Majestic Forge and Diamondback forges. After reading some threads in here I decided magestic was poorly made and couldn't weld easily. I looked at Chile ones too but that is out of my budget. I want to know if any of you have had problems with a diamondback Forge (I want the 2 burner blacksmith model). Or if you think it would be worth my time and money to just make one and buy the burners then any advice on insulation would be great. Also, I want a forge that can do some good welding. I want to try some Damascus in a few months.
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What is the chemical composition of the steel 2cr13? And does it go by another name?
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First of all let me introduce myself, My name is Christian, 16 years old and I am from the Netherlands, I've been blacksmithing for about half a year now, mostly making simple knives. My question is, does anyone know what are very common items (like rasps or springs) that contain nickel? I really want to try my hand at making Damascus for my knives. I find it very challenging to find the right steels I need for my work, that is also why I use leaf springs for all my knives. Thanks in advance for everyone's help
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Hi, I am new here, and only moderately experienced in blade making, and have been curious as to whether you could use screwdrivers to make small carving blades or maybe just very thin ones. I have used them as makeshift hot chisels for decorative forging, with mixed results, I also get used ones for about a few pennies a piece so if it is a usable material I would like to utilize it. Thanks for your time and responses!
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Hello All...I found this piece of metal with the profile of a railroad track. It's marked "Bethlehem" and "L.V. 80". I'm guessing it's from Bethlehem Steel and possibly the LV is Lehigh Valley and the 80 is 1980? Im less than an hour from Bethlehem so that's why I'm guessing this. Any ideas on what it is?
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Hey, I need the least complicated way to build a stainless steel hollow ball with a large radius. Like the one in the image. Can I get some ideas?
