panzertank27 Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 im making a 17"knife from leafspring im done the forging part and filing and got a good start on the sanding.when i finished my last forge hammering i left it a little bent and then filed and sanded anyway because i use a charcoal forge its too much time to heat it up for 1 bang so ill wait till ill heat treat. so my question is; i heard i can straighten with a leather hammer to not inflict any damage to finished blade so can I straighten it without any hammer marks . do i just use regular "railroad rail" anvil. also I will make my own leather hammer by wrapping an old belt tight around an old rubber mallet (should get about 1 inch of leather or more thick) is that okay. sorry bout all the dumb questions but i looked for a while on thise site and saw nothin like this,... also this will be my first finished knife as its a birthday present for may 14.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 You shouild really look over the knife stickies in here as well as bp 0078.Here may be some internal stresses in the blade that need resolved. A blade that size is a very aggresive first knife and without some knowledge on the subject you may have more difficulty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 I always used a chunk of firewood for a wooden mallet and it should be done hot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 I straighten work hot with a wooden mallet on a wood block without damaging details. My most recent mallet is an old wood baseball bat. I cut the fat end off and used the handle for the . . . handle. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Budd Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Get it hot and straighten it. then make sure you get the whole to a nice even heat and re normalize, better still anneal it. I had the same problem with leaf springs on my first few bigger blades. Some steel and some designs can be tweaked by applying local heat to the spine with a torch and then holding the blade in the correct posisiotn with a wrench, but to be honest it is much safer to heat it up and re do the heat treating ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panzertank27 Posted April 16, 2009 Author Share Posted April 16, 2009 thanks for all the info guys, yes it will take a few more forge uses i guess. ill anneal after i straighten it maybe even anneal twice? cant hurt i guess. then ill harden it. I have to make a big blade cause i already promised ot to my nephew on his 18 birthday and he likes big scary knives (not to use, but to hang on a wall , i hope) i plan on heating to non magnetic then hot oil quenching, then temper, then draw the back with a torch but.. i have a question. i see the nepal guys treat the kukri with just pouring water on the cutting edge of the blade and i think thats all they do, so iknow the kukri is also leafspring( same steel as mine, at least close) my blade is as large as a kukri so can i do this also or should i just do it the propre way (which i probably will for my first knife, also ive have 5 blades started in case of failure)????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweany Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 I've water quenched 5160 like the Kukri makers. You gotta be fast to quench both sides of the of the edge, or you can wind up with one side harder than the other. Check the hardened edge with a file, then temper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Steinkirchner Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 i tempered my khukri that way and it works well... for a khukri, it may be too brittle to do a long blade this way, as only one part of the khukri is fully hard, not the whole edge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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