Ecart Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I'm a little shakey on the terminology here. I am working on my second and third knives. I have forged the majority of the edges down to 50% of the original thickness of the material per JPH's instructions in The Complete Bladesmith. But I have a problem. The area where the blade edge meets the ricasso area- I think it is called the plunge cut- is still pretty thick. I was wondering about how to hammer it in. Should I put the part where I want the edge to start at the edge of my anvil and hit it with the hammer head half on and half off the anvil, then flip it over and do the same? Or will flipping it over to repeat the process only destroy the work on the other side? I hope this is understandable. I'm afraid I'm not explaining it the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPH Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Ecart: Hammer control is the key factor..Using the width wise area of the face take the blade and place it at the edge where the table of the anvil is and work it that way..I nwork one side, then the other. HAMMER CONTROL...make sure you count the number if blows and remember where you placed them from one side to the other. You already have the basic idea, niow you have to put it into practise... If you have any questions , please, feel free to contact me directly... JPH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecart Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 Thanks a bunch! Yeah, hammer control keeps haunting me. But the more I forge, the more it comes to me. I'm still doing more grinding to shape than forging though. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Budd Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Getting nice defined plunges is something that illudes a lot of folk that like to forge close to finish (that's what I like to tell'em when they fail to forge a blade completely ), as JPH says: hammer control! and he should know, he wrote the book! a couple of things that hekped me with that area when I started were: brace the bar of steel against your leg when forging, this stops the blade moving around on the anvil. once you have forged most of the length of the blade in, go back over your plunge area with localised hammer blows (so only one hammer width at teh plunge on either side of the blade) make sure that the hammer face lines up directly over the corner of the anvil and your plunge will form there and if your blow are even, in the middle of the bar. sweep your hammer away from the anvil with each blow (I do this through out the forging as it is more efficient and you get a wider blade than a direct hit). with the plunge, try sweeping diagonally so that you move in the direction of the outmost corner of the blade edge. get yourself right above the metal and use single well placed blows. just a few thought that helped me practice is the only way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecart Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 Thanks Dave. I'm almost out of coal, so I'm going today to pick up some more. Maybe this afternoon I'll get to try out these suggestions. Maybe if anything noteworthy comes of it this time out, I will post a couple of pics tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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