Feukair Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 Here's a pic of my 3rd attempt at smithing. It's a railroad spike knife. I grinded an edge along it but left the hammered finish on the sides of the blade. After buffing it off with a wire wheel i though the hammer dimples looked pretty cool so i left them. Besides i don't know how to properly grind one yet so i just used a bench grinder to shape this. It's not heat treated or tempered or anything, just forged and then grinded to see if i could make the shape. My first forging attempt was a rail spike knife which i left in the forge too long and had it too hot so it melted the blade away... My second attempt i got a little too hot after i had thinned the blade down so a piece of the blade split. This was my third attempt. I don't think I'll make another knife for a while, I'm having fun right now trying to make tongs and other tools. L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 I'd go ahead and try a superquench heat treat on it; nice lines! Thomas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feukair Posted December 21, 2006 Author Share Posted December 21, 2006 Here's two other rail knives i've forged and an unforged spike for comparison. The larger one is thined down to about 3/16 inch all the way from the head of the spike, that's how i was able to get it so long. I didn't realize there was soo much metal in a rail spike. Sorry for the quality of the pic, it's from my cell phone... L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feukair Posted December 21, 2006 Author Share Posted December 21, 2006 I'd go ahead and try a superquench heat treat on it; nice lines! Thomas Thanks! But, I don't know what a super quench is? Just heat it up to bright orange and slosh it around in some cold water? Sorry... heat treating is something I definitely need to lean about but haven't got there yet. L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Salvati Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 Thanks! But, I don't know what a super quench is? Just heat it up to bright orange and slosh it around in some cold water? Sorry... heat treating is something I definitely need to lean about but haven't got there yet. L That's what I do, and it works good for me, they hold a pretty good edge too, not for like cutting steel bars or anything, but opening boxes and cutting some meat is easy, they perform well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oljoe Posted December 22, 2006 Share Posted December 22, 2006 Feukair, Do a search for superquench. It is a mixture of water, salt, a wetting agent, and dish washing detergent. It takes a rapid quench to harden a railroad spike due to a lower carbon content than most knife steel. ApprenticeMan, The spike knife will perform much better if you use the superquench. Give it a try. Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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