A question from knife making unplugged

About 40 minutes info the film he puts whats called a counter bend into the knife. What is the reason for the counter bend exactly? He never really explains.

When you are forging a bevel on one side of a blade it tends to lengthen that side of the blade, curving the blade away from your bevel. With a bit of practice most of this can be countered by prebending in the opposite direction (or... "counter bending").

Or lay that puppy on it's back and swat it with a 2x4
Finnr

Like Finnr says you can pre bend but you can straighten your forging up without ruining your work with a chunk of wood.

Bob

it is a lot easier to prebend the bar rather than try to straighten it with a lump of wood! For one thing the edge tends to fold and twist as you try to straighten it.

Likewise, if you bend it too far (ie prebend too much) it is easier to stretch the edge upwards than it is to try and push the blade back down at the end. Also the thinner you forge you edge, the more relevant that point is!

Ok thanks makes sense now.

Since bladesmithing is a subset of blacksmithing , I am surprised how many don't know the basic skill of how to bend a bar. As you are forming a thing, when you see it wants to crawl off in another direction, then why just keep hammering? Stop and think, just put it back where it belongs. This way we keep it straight as we go. It is not that hard to do, rather than guessing how much it might bend, to just keep realigning it as we go, is so simple. Maybe its from too many being in a hurry to hammer a bar into a knife shape, that they forget to learn basic smithing skills beforehand?

Edited June 11, 200916 yr by steve sells

Thank you, Steve. Well said.

Steve,
OK - I am new. But, I have always wondered the same thing. Always have to straighten as you go anyway, even if you tried to pre-bend. Easier for me, at least, to take a little time with each heat (or two) to realign by either working the other side or putting spine on anvil and tapping straight.

kevin

:o
It's good to know I'm not alone as the new kid on the block! Just this morning I was working on a blade that wanted to bend badly, so I went to the counterbend method (it was a small blade so I just opened my vise, laid the hot blade on its back and wacked it a couple of times to give it a counterbend.) Well of course the blade twisted as I changed its shape, but I was able to lay it on its side and gently tap it back into its true flat form In practice, for a new guy, this is no easy task, but I found that once I got the rhythm all went well.

For some of us, without the funds for formal training, or without a local teacher to be found, or just because we've got to get that knife made, we have to learn by the seat of out pants. No shame in that I suppose as long as you're having fun.

And p.s. many thanks to you experienced guys who give advice so freely to us in need!

Happy Hammerin':D