Bluefeather Posted May 15, 2010 Share Posted May 15, 2010 Well here it is. I'm a new blacksmith (about 20 hrs of forge time) and a new knifemaker. This is my third blade made - first at the forge. The other two were stock removal carving knives of 440C. I'm taking a blacksmith class on tuesdays and having a blast! Most of the time so far has been learning the basics, but we were given the task of making something of interest to us. I have been browsing IFI for a time now, and have seen a great many really neat spike knives. Then I remembered that back in the days of my youth, my siblings and I would walk the derelict tracks near the house and gather "treasure" of spikes, clamps, plates and whatever odd and interesting bits of metal we could carry. So I dug out a few and decided to try my hand at forging a spike knife. This one had the HC for high carbon on the head. I brought it to non-magnetic and quenched it in veggie oil, then tempered the edge to a straw color. Does anyone have any suggestions for a better way to treat these? I've been thinking of trying to forge weld some O-1 and/or some old file metal to the next one and trying a damascus thing to add some strength to the blade. Suggestions or comments on that? Anyway, I like my little spike knife. I really had fun making it. I know it isn't perfect, but I'm going to test the heck out of it and see how the edge holds. So it won't be mirror shiney forever anyway! Thanks for looking and feel free to let me know your thoughts/suggestions/experiences with these! John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DUNSTAN Posted May 15, 2010 Share Posted May 15, 2010 Good job for your first! keep hammering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluefeather Posted May 16, 2010 Author Share Posted May 16, 2010 Thanks Dunstan, I'm hooked, so I'll be hammering again soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzerak Posted May 16, 2010 Share Posted May 16, 2010 Looks much better then my first spike knife! Keep forging on ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRobb Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 Looks good! Nice job for your first. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 Well as you most likely know, having done a good job researching these, the HC is high carbon only for spikes, in reality the spec for them has them at the very bottom boundary of medium carbon, 30 points. On the other hand the weird script j like clips you find at the same places are 1040-1060 steel, depending upon manufacturer. I know Billy Merritt has forged a pattern welded RR spike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.