muskiedaze Posted September 5, 2011 Share Posted September 5, 2011 I've been hammerin steel for about 3 weeks and I'm primarily interested in making tomahawks. I've got a Weber grill forge, a shop vac blower, a vice, and a couple of hammers. Its been pretty tough challenge so far, but I really like doing it. I've had more failures than successes but I've completed a few crude hawks and a couple of hardies and knives. A couple lessons would help a lot. Any criticism or advice would be appreciated. Don't laugh too hard. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted T Posted September 5, 2011 Share Posted September 5, 2011 Welcome to "I Forge Iron". Three weeks!!! WOW. - - Just keep on forging and learning! If what you have accomplished in three weeks is an indicator of your "Drive" and "Abilities", I cannot imagine what you will be able to produce in three months from now! The sky is the limit! - But please include SAFETY as you decision maker as you learn! The best to you! - - Future of Blacksmithing in the making I beleive! Ted Throckmorton - - AKA Ted T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRobb Posted September 5, 2011 Share Posted September 5, 2011 Very nice!! You are doing excellent work, especially after just three weeks. Keep hammering and keep posting those pics. If you let us know where you are ( city & state ), there might be someone close who can help out from time to time. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muskiedaze Posted September 5, 2011 Author Share Posted September 5, 2011 Mitch, I live in Layton NJ. There's a place about 2 miles from me called Peter's Valley which has an awesome facility for teaching blacksmithing. They have 9 coal Forges, a couple gas ones, trip hammers and all the accessories. Unfortunatly they didn't have enough students sign up to offer any classes this year, but their main guy offered some private lessons.His name is Dick Seargent and I believe he's pretty well known in the blacksmithing community. matter of fact, he lives next door to me. Thanks for your input. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old N Rusty Posted September 5, 2011 Share Posted September 5, 2011 Turn away from the DARKSIDE! this poor ole world got enuff weapons! It went from items to cut and bash to the thermonuclear! Now our very existence is threatened. "Look what they've done to my song.ma!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Welcome aboard, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in your header you might be delighted to find out how many smiths live in easy visiting distance. Of course having Dick living next door may take a little of the rush off finding someone to show you the tricks and correct the mistakes. The other plus is how much time and brainwork it'll save us old farts when we're on the road, we won't have to rely on our memories to remember who's close by if we want a snack or nap. Good looking hawks, especially for 3 weeks practice. I'll be watching for pics of more work, you're a comer for sure. If you practice on mild steel you'll build skills on less finicky, easier to move steel and get your mistakes out of the way faster and easier. Again, welcome aboard. Frosty the Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muskiedaze Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 Frosty, I've been useing mostly A 36 steel which works much easier than one hawk I attemped from a ball peen hammer, which was much more difficult to work. I had it about 3/4 done when I burned up the thinner steel on the socket. I also completed one from what I believe was some type of stainless which was very difficult to work. Won't try that again.. THE A-36 seems to harden somewhat, judging from the feel of a file on it, but I'm not sure. I'm useing my hawks for throwing, so a really hard edge is not critical. What type of steel would be the easiest for me to learn on? I haven't been able to forge weld the A-36, but I did weld up some re-bar successfully. Thanks for your thoughts. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marksnagel Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Hey John, Welcome to IFI. Lucky you to live so close to Peters Valley. I spent every summer of my youth in that area. Camping, hiking, hunting,fishing, Big Flatbrook, great time of my life. Had relatives on Lake Owassa and friends on Kittatinny Lake. Went to Peters Valley as a teen several times. Take full advantage of whatever they have to offer. You are already well on your way. Mark <>< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muskiedaze Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 Mark, My Dad and I used to show our hand crafted furniture at the PV craft fair for many years and my wife worked at their store for awhile. I've had many friends who were residents there. I live along the Delaware about a mile upstream from the Dingmans Ferry Bridge on a 2 mile dead end. Awesome spot for a guy that likes to hunt and fish and make a lot of noise on an anvil. It hasn't changed much here in a long time. Good to hear from you. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Frosty, I've been useing mostly A 36 steel which works much easier than one hawk I attemped from a ball peen hammer, which was much more difficult to work. I had it about 3/4 done when I burned up the thinner steel on the socket. I also completed one from what I believe was some type of stainless which was very difficult to work. Won't try that again.. THE A-36 seems to harden somewhat, judging from the feel of a file on it, but I'm not sure. I'm useing my hawks for throwing, so a really hard edge is not critical. What type of steel would be the easiest for me to learn on? I haven't been able to forge weld the A-36, but I did weld up some re-bar successfully. Thanks for your thoughts. John A-36 is a performance spec version of mild steel rather than an alalysis spec like 1018. It can be trickier in some regards but not seriously so, it's what I can get at the steel store so that and scrap is what I have available. Forge welding it is easy if you do it by the numbers. I'll lay out MY method after the SS monologue. Forge welding stainless is a serious PITA requiring special fluxes because of the high chrome content. Sal amoniac is the most common SS flux Ir I recall correctly and that contains flouride, all of them do if I'm correct. This means forge welding SS is a hazmat proposition there's hexavalent chrome AND flouride, both are seriously hazardous to your health. Hex chrome is nearly a guaranteed a carcinogen with a pretty low dosage requirement and Flouride in forge conditions attacks the calcium in your skeleton. I hope I don't need to explain why I don't forge weld SS, I have the hazmat gear but it's such a pita wearing it and working at the anvil. Okay, my forge welding technique is pretty straight forward. Match the join surfaces as closely as possible, forget scarfing, this is steel not wrought, I'll get to the reasoning in a bit. Once well matched clean the join surfaces, if you can get a brush to the surfaces you can do a lot better with a file or belt grinder. close the join with a dusting of flux. OR wire the join together with a sprinkle of flux. I like 4pts borax with 1pt boric acid for flux, the boric acid melts at a lower temp than borax, doesn't alter the chemistry appreciably and puts a oxy resistant glaze on the steel. Okay, fluxed and ready to heat. My propane forge runs with a rich flame so oxidization isn't a factor. I put the thickest side up so the thin section doesn't burn, melt or otherwise suffer damage while the thicker comes to heat. Once it's to heat and soaked I pull it and give it a firm tap with a heavy hammer. Don't hit it HARD, this is bad, it can do all kinds of things to ruin the joint, it can literally bounce the sides apart, shear it or literally splash the hot steel out of the joint. A firm solid tap is just right in most cases unless you're lap welding a couple pieces of 2" bar, you'll have to scale "tap" to the weight of the stock. Once I've made my first welding strikes I return it to the fire and bring it back to welding heat and refine the joint. Flux first if it appears to have open portions or cold shuts. these are easily visible as different temperature colors. The anvil will draw heat from the stock and if the weld isn't solid the section off the anvil will retain more heat than the section ON the anvil, the hotter part will be brighter than the cooler. I'm hoping that's a little clearer than mud. I hope these show the weld well enough. It's a nail anvil stake tool that started life as a HC RR spike about 30-35 pts carbon and a short length of mild. I drew a point on the spike with a 50lb Little Giant and punched and drifted the sq. hole for heading in the spike head. The flat bar was shaped for the cut off with a single bevel to make a butcher so the nail has a flat end and the pinch off is on the stock. Then I touched it with the belt grinder. The cut off is also a stop so it doesn't get driven too far into a wood block, say a stump or round. The intent is for this to be a camp fire tool used inconjunction with a beer and supper around the camp fire after work on the cabin, etc. basically a pack in tool rather than an anvil. The cutoff was welded on as I described above. Frosty the Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted T Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Now that is the old FROSTY Talking again!!!!!!! I am so glad that ya made it through, I know that things were pretty dicey! But your back. Ted Throckmorton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Thanks Ted. It was in large part prayers from you guys that did it. Deb was under so much pressure she may not have pulled through herself if it weren't for the huge amount of support from the blacksmithing community. She calls you guys her "hairy faced blacksmith angels." All the best to all in harm's way and the rest of ya just for the heck of it. Frosty the Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackbeard Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 hey all Good to see you around Frosty...have a question , thought it may be relevant. Ive found a peice of 316 stainless steel at work, it used to be an agitator blade which has been worn thin. It has nice patterns worn into the metal which i thought would make a nice texture on a knifeblade. Problem is its too flexable to make a decent blade...any way to harden it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackbeard Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Great looking tomahawks hard to believe youve been at it for only three weeks...keep up the good work and welcome to ifi! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 hey all Good to see you around Frosty...have a question , thought it may be relevant. Ive found a peice of 316 stainless steel at work, it used to be an agitator blade which has been worn thin. It has nice patterns worn into the metal which i thought would make a nice texture on a knifeblade. Problem is its too flexable to make a decent blade...any way to harden it? Good to be here! Sorry to be so slow replying, summer's getting short and there's lots to get done before snow flies. Anyway, no, 316 SS is chemical resistant and also intended to not work harden so it isn't likely to take much from heat treating. Heck, you can't even work harden the stuff so leaving it as forged won't even work. If you want to forge SS blades the alloy that comes to mind is the 440 series, 440c being the highest C content I know of. Of course the blade guys have the real info, I'm just speaking from memory. Frosty the Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTKS Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 Wow, am I behind the curve. I just got my own forge up and going. I've been tapping on steel off and on for a couple years but not enough to count for experience. One of my first real projects will be a tomahawk a buddy wants for a display. I'm not worried about the steel hardness in this case. I was going to try to use an old ball peen hammer but it sounds like it's a little dicier than I expected. Thanks for the heads up. If I screw it up it can always count as a lesson learned. Welcome to I Forge Iron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackbeard Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 Thanks Forsty guess ill find another use for it...i have a lot of stuff stowed away with later uses in mind...think most blacksmiths hate to get rid of any peice of metal lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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