brianbrazealblacksmith Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Here's the start of my first cable knife that I did with LDW's tutelage and tooling. LDW's bottom die for the tredle hammer forges a pentagon. I've never forged a five sided weld before this. The pics show the knife after forging and wire wheeling, no grinding or filing yet. I'll post more pics when it's finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! Amazing work Brian!! The pentagon is very interesting! This knife is only a moderately complex design but the incredible precision of your execution is a wonder to see!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golgotha forge & anvil Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 UNREAL!!! A true craftsman!... Gene Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Emig Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Hi Brian, Nice clean work-as usual. By the way, I heard a vicious rumour that you might be headed our way to demonstrate for us (the Northeast Blacksmith's) this fall-hopefully you can confirm this rumour! Looking forward to seeing you demo and meet you when (and if ) you come to the Catskills. Take care, Mark Emig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamj Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 awesome knife i have always wanted to do a handle like that just never been able to try Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianbrazealblacksmith Posted July 1, 2010 Author Share Posted July 1, 2010 Hi Brian, Nice clean work-as usual. By the way, I heard a vicious rumour that you might be headed our way to demonstrate for us (the Northeast Blacksmith's) this fall-hopefully you can confirm this rumour! Looking forward to seeing you demo and meet you when (and if ) you come to the Catskills. Take care, Mark Emig It's true Mark, and I am looking forward to it also. I have only been in that area of the country once back in 1984, and it was truly beautiful. Yesterday after lunch I took a draw file to the knife. There wasn't that much to do, so it went very quickly. Then I went to harden it, and I used water. Lyle, LDW, told me not to use water, but I just had to see for myself. I brought the edge up to temp and plundged the whole blade in the water. It hardened it and you could really see the pattern, no cracks, I didn't hear any clinks, but it warped it. So I heated the whole blade up a few times and straightened it with my butcher block brush. I never over heated it. I heated the edge back up and just quenched the edge this time, and I heard that klink. There was a tiny crack perpendicular to the edge of the blade, so I proceded to see how much more damage I could do. I reheated the blade and requenched the edge, this time dipping the point down more, and I heard about 3 more klinks and got about 3 new cracks, larger and more towards the point this time. Anyway, I kept at that for a while, heating more, quenching more, bending and breaking it in the vice until just before Lyle showed up from work. I should have taken Lyles advice, but I wanted to see it for myself. I also should have normalized the blade a few times after forging it before I hardened it. I learned a bit, and I'll try it again. The nice thing about the cable knives like Lyle has been doing is they are quick and efficient to make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Emig Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Hi Brian, Sorry to hear you killed that nice knife. Glad to hear the rumour is true. If you are in the area for longer than the Hammer-in, I can either direct you to some really nice places and things to do, or do the tour guide thing if you like. The Catskills/Hudson Valley has a lot of cool things to see/do. Mark Emig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianbrazealblacksmith Posted July 1, 2010 Author Share Posted July 1, 2010 Hi Brian, Sorry to hear you killed that nice knife. Glad to hear the rumour is true. If you are in the area for longer than the Hammer-in, I can either direct you to some really nice places and things to do, or do the tour guide thing if you like. The Catskills/Hudson Valley has a lot of cool things to see/do. Mark Emig Thanks for the offer, Mark, but if I don't have work I'll have to get back to work. I haven't been able to afford time off since I started this blacksmithing. I don't even understand what a weekend is, for me, the weeks keep going on and on. They haven't ended yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDW Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 I wanted to cry when I saw that knife after it cracked. Brian just brushes these things off and makes another one. This means its time to make another one. I need to make a couple myself so we will have to have another go at it. I cant wait to get over there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Trez Cole Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 that sucks, the shapping looks great. Jim hrisouslas recomends a mixture of oil and deisel fuel that is what I use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianbrazealblacksmith Posted July 1, 2010 Author Share Posted July 1, 2010 Yeh, the ricasso area was done with a set hammer and hard edge of the anvil with Lyle striking. I don't make many blades, but I'm thinking of making some tooling so anyone could forge that area perfectly by themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tantrum86 Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 that would be great for us smiths with no one around to lend a hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 AAAUUGGHHH!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPH Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 Hello: Hope no one minds an intrusion.... You got the cracks cause you used water. You should should of used a light to medium weight/speed oil... The mixture of motor oil/atf/diesel fuel suggested above works quite well...been using it myself for many years, even for water hardening tool steels when I feel that ther's an elevated chance of cracking a blade... JPH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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