Tuition

[Robakyo]

I have gained so much from the members on this site. The comments, advice, and pictures have been invaluable. Master Swordsmiths,Master Bladesmiths, and Master Blacksmiths, right on down to beginners like myself, have contributed to the community here with pictures of both their triumphs and failures. Thank You All!

As a drill sergeant was fond of saying, " You learn more from failure than from success." And to use Rich Hale's buzz word: Tuition, I would like to present the efforts of my labor. My tuition, up to this point.

I started off with mystery metal. It turned out that the three flat bars of iron had an appreciable amount of carbon in them. They are all flawed in ways that led me to new understandings. Hopefully, the pics will attach this time.

Robert


I keep getting a message stating "upload skipped (Error403) even though I've updated my Flash plug-in to 9.

[Fe-Wood]

I think your file size (image) is to big. try reducing file size by email a reduced image to yourself and upload from there. thats what I have to do....

[Bigred1o1]

i just gave up and started uploading things to facebook and then linking them here the size of the photos were getting so small that it seemed sort of hard to see what was in some of them you can link using a ulr address clicking the photo icon and pasting it in to there not perfect but it works

[pkrankow]

Looking forward to pictures, but not holding my breath.

400x300 usually load fine...but they are little better than thumbnails.

Phil

[Robakyo]

Here is my next attempt at posting. I was able to upload images. These first three large blades were made by stock removal ( hacksaw, body file, and files. Unfortunately, this was before I discovered IFI. When I learned about HT, I filed off the cutting edges until I had at least 1/16th in. Still, that wasn't enough on the Japanese influenced blade. It has a wavy section.

I read about clamping a slight bend to a flat bar of steel during the tempering cycle to correct a warp. Would that work on an edge? I was also able to achieve a faint hamon on the edge. I forced the drying time of the refractory. Next time I will practice patience. I think that it would have been more dramatic.

Robert

[MRobb]

Very nice and loooooong knives. Really nice file work too! Well done.


Mitch

[Robakyo]

OK, so I was able to reduce the images to an acceptable level. Here is another group of pics. These are the pics of the Japanese influenced blade. The handle is a bamboo flooring sample. It is only roughly shaped for now. I will refine the shape once I've corrected the warp in the blade. The pins will be bamboo as well.

Robert

[Robakyo]

This last group is made up of more mystery steel. The hunter is my first hidden tang knife. I actually found an acceptable use for RR spikes, as I used a portion of one to form the guard. I drilled the slot with my cordless. The small brass spacer was cut from a door striker plate. The wood is a section of a branch struck by lightning. Copper pins, poorly peened.

The Seax was made from the T-beam support track for a Sears Craftsman garage door opener found in the woods. Pallet wood scales, and pins from heavy gauge steel wire used to support the grid-work of a drop ceiling. Another hunter that has the leather covered wood sheath, as well as the aforementioned hidden tang knife, were made from the same T-beam. All were edge quenched. Weak hamons.

The only legitimate knife steel is the one with the black pins. I think it is 1075. I haven't HT'ed it yet. I was fortunate enough to get an invite to one of Aldo's Hammer-ins. Thanks again Sam! That was a turning point for me.

The chopper is based on the Ontario Spec plus. At least that is what I wrote below my sketch. It is made from bed frame. I learned, after the fact, that I should use a lighter touch with the hammer. Pallet wood scales. Smelled like oak. Copper pins. It chops well. I made short work of my former Christmas tree.


All of the kitchen knives were made from bed frames as well. So this is my dirty dozen. I actually didn't know the count until I laid them all out for the final picture. I've also made several pair of tongs. Not great by any stretch of the imagination, but functional. Sigh. This has been more than a year in the making. :lol:

Robert

[Robakyo]

Very nice and loooooong knives. Really nice file work too! Well done.


Mitch

Thanks Mitch, I really like doing file work. I have put it on everything but the kitchen knives. I had no idea what I was doing when I started making my first knives. I tried to maximize the available metal. Instead, I could easily have made three out of each bar. But I Do like the long one with the Ipe (sp) scales. Thanks for looking.

Robert

[pkrankow]

Very nice. I like the cleavers best myself.

Phil

[Robakyo]

Thanks a lot Phil! I like them too. I've always wanted one since I first saw "Yan Can Cook". He really made short work of garlic with his cleaver.

The bed frame steel works well for that. I found it extremely difficult to coax out the tails of the one cleaver and the chopper. I ended up with minor cold shuts in both tails.

Robert

[pkrankow]

Thanks a lot Phil! I like them too. I've always wanted one since I first saw "Yan Can Cook". He really made short work of garlic with his cleaver.

The bed frame steel works well for that. I found it extremely difficult to coax out the tails of the one cleaver and the chopper. I ended up with minor cold shuts in both tails.

Robert

Instead of drawing out that much, you can hot cut a strip mostly off the parent stock, bend that out, then refine this into a tang. That is a long way to move pretty thin metal.

Phil

[ablenumbersix]

these are very cool. what is a cold shut, and how long have you been working metal?

[Bigred1o1]

good old google

cold shut Top

McGraw-Hill Science & Technology Dictionary:

> > > (′kōld ′shət) (metallurgy) A surface defect of a metal casting in the form of a discontinuity where two streams failed to unite. Also known as cold lap. Freezing of the top surface of an ingot before the mold is full.

HomeLibraryScienceSci-Tech Dictionary

Read more:

http://www.answers.com/topic/cold-shut-metallurgy#ixzz1t16cSwNn

[Bigred1o1]

sorry that was me being lazy and not wanting to have to spell check a post

[Robakyo]

Instead of drawing out that much, you can hot cut a strip mostly off the parent stock, bend that out, then refine this into a tang. That is a long way to move pretty thin metal.

Phil

I agree Phil. I had to fuller and flatten,fuller and flatten on the horn of my home-made RR track anvil until I achieved my objective. That caused the cold shuts I think. I should consider buying or making some scrolling tongs as well. I didn't really quench harden that area until the blade section had stopped smoking and bubbling. I think the tempering toughened it.??

So much to learn, and I can't stop thinking about the next project. :lol:

[Robakyo]

these are very cool. what is a cold shut, and how long have you been working metal?

Thanks, Able. I think Big Red answered that well. Thanks, Big Red! I've been working metal for a little over one year now.

[Robakyo]

Just an update. I tried to straighten out a slight bend in the cutting edge of my wakizashi-ish blade. Clamped the edge between two pieces of angle iron and tempered for an hour @ 425 F for an hour. After removing from the over I left it clamped up until cool. I was unsuccessful.

The spine is straight, but the edge still has a slight curve near the tip. :( I really learned a valuable lesson there. I also like the oxidized color as well. How durable is that as a finish?

Robert

[Bigred1o1]

its a nifty web sight for technical definitions
as well i have really enjoyed looking at your work robakyo
thanks for sharing
as well i got a real kick out of your backdrops nice original artwork there

[pkrankow]

Oxide colors are not durable at all. They are very thin, to say the least. Steel wool will remove them easily. On a decorative item you can clear coat to try to improve the durability, but on a blade it is best to simply remove the color to bright clean steel.

Phil

[Robakyo]

its a nifty web sight for technical definitions
as well i have really enjoyed looking at your work robakyo
thanks for sharing
as well i got a real kick out of your backdrops nice original artwork there

I appreciate your kind words Big Red. Ha. Yeah, I thought it might be nice to spice up the images with my girls' toys and drawings. They are awesome! Unfortunately, I've infected them with my metal scavenging disease. My wife HATES that!

[Robakyo]

Oxide colors are not durable at all. They are very thin, to say the least. Steel wool will remove them easily. On a decorative item you can clear coat to try to improve the durability, but on a blade it is best to simply remove the color to bright clean steel.

Phil

Thanks for the timely information Phil. Thats a real shame. The colors are very striking.

Robert

[Robakyo]

Alright, I know that my knives aren't stellar, but I was hoping to get some real advice on how to correct certain flaws. Of course, the first rule is to leave sufficient material for the HT ( which I didn't do because it was one of my first). Having said that, how can I correct a slight curve to a blade edge without re-heat treating?

The thought of lightly tapping out the flaw on my anvil without causing it to break I find daunting! Oh yeah, and I've already epoxied it!
Have any of you folks done this successfully?

Robert

[ThomasPowers]

I really like the first "bush swords".

The second set of pictures I'm not so hot with as the kissaki detracts from it for me as that shape is extremely rare in real japanese blades and most noted in the "Cold steel" knives.

The cleavers and the chef's knife looks great too.

[Rich Hale]

For the bend in the blade you are right aboiut it breaking,,maybe. If the material is not right or the heat treat is not right and the blade is not hard enough to take and hold an edge you may well be able to tap it on the anvil and straighten it out. That of course also means it will not be a good blade.
I do not think that is the case at all with your blades based on wot you have showed us in here. Second thought is that almost all epoxies give up at about 400f. A while in an oven will loosen it right up; and you can remove then handles material and heat the blade up, straighten it out, normalize three times and refinish it. You will not be able to save your handle material. i do everything on a blade before I put handles on. I had similiar problems when I began, I was really anxious to see the knife in finished form. I paid for that a few times. I think every one of us goes throuigh that,,just keep at it and learn more every time you make a knife. Dpoon not forget that epoxies heated give off stuff we do not need in our lungs.