James_bp88 Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Here it is..my first completed knife, I plan to stain the wood sometime tomorrow and fine tune the edge a bit more. Made from a nail shown in one of the pictures, home made charcoal forge, and a 16 lb sledge hammer head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robakyo Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 James, welcome to IFI. That is a very well done first knife! It looks like you studied some before doing that. How well did that nail harden? Did you do an actual Heat Treat? Did you quench in Oil or Water? How did you secure the tang in the handle? Again, nicely shaped blade. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_bp88 Posted June 4, 2012 Author Share Posted June 4, 2012 Thank you for the reply! To answer your questions - The nail hardened well enough to hold an edge, used it to carve some of the same poplar wood used for the handle. It is still a tad bit softer than I would like. I did what I believe was an actual heat treat (lol), I heated it near the orange and quenched it in oil. I used an entire board before finally finding something that worked for me as far as securing the tang, I drilled a whole 3/4 of the way through the handle and cut the tang to fit snug, before placing together I packed the whole with a bit of JB weld quiksteel (the stick). Once the blade was attached to the handle I crammed some more jb weld inside the hole on each side of the tang. Ended up with a very solid bond. I was able to chop at a block of wood with no movement in no more than 2 or 3 hours. Thank you again for the compliment and the reply! More coming soon..if the wife allows. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecart Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Hey James, my wife learned to love it when I smith. Whenever I have a rough day at the day job, or am just overly uptight about stuff, she makes me go light a fire in the forge. The anvil doesn't care that some upset individual is laying hot steel across it and beating it into submission. So before long it puts me in a pretty agreeable mood. :lol: Seriously, that is pretty creative to use a nail like that. Nice first knife from an interesting material. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_bp88 Posted June 4, 2012 Author Share Posted June 4, 2012 I have a tendancy to spend a lot of time with my tools as is lol. (Auto mechanic). I am recently unemployed which makes it very easy to just pound metal all day and collect unemployment. So far my ol' lady has been pretty supportive of it all considering lol. She let me spend 180 bucks on a new anvil..a real anvil..(55 lb) and lots of miscellaneous tools. Ordered a lot of rail road spikes too! My wife and I both are hoping to sell a few RR spike knives to help pay for some of the stuff I've purchased for my new hobby/addiction. (Probably why she has let me "play" as much as I have lol. Do any of you have tips on forming an edge as far as best tools to use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 James I feel the important thing about you work is to look at how many things you have done really well. The shape of the blade is nice..the lack of hammer marks is really great to see on a first knife. Here is a thought: RR spikes are not easy to hang onto whie you forge, they do not have enough carbon to make a nice knife, even the ones marke HC are not high carbon. They can be heat treated so they will hold an edge but not by the normal shop methods. No and then I make a rifle stock or grips for hand guns. I buy and use the finest walnut I can afford. I coulf practice with pine or a softer wood but have always felt that the worst thing about that is that if i was really pleased with how it fit and the shape finish etc. I woul dhav e pine wood gunstock. Good knife steel is not that pricey. Try shops that make auto leaf springs. Tell them you need short section.ask wot the steel is and ho to heat treat it. it may be 5160, another steel I like alot is 1084 easy to heat treat, most knife suppliers will send it to your door and will make a wonderful blade. Keep making them,,out of wotever steel you have and want to. Just a few thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_bp88 Posted June 4, 2012 Author Share Posted June 4, 2012 Well crap..good thing I only spent 20 bucks on em lol. I got them customer I saw the ones selling for $60 and up on eBay..not sure why they're priced so highly with the info you've given me. I do have some leaf spring steel from an old VW bug I plan to goof around with soon. Im thinking about making myself a flattening hammer from a solid 2 lb cyclinder of steel..not sure what type of steel it is but it weighs just above 2 lbs and has little rust..dug it out of a barn in my in laws back yard. Any tips on checking the worth of steel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccustomknives Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Your's looks a whole lot better than my first knife. One of these days I'm gonna start a "show me your weirdest hammer" thread. I made a 12lb sledge out of a hydrolic cylinder. It will move some metals. As far as checking steel, get a spark test chart. That's a good place to start. It helps to have peices that are known steels to compare with. A quick look at some of my work, you'd be amazed (or maybe not) that is is 100% made from someone elses junk. If you do it that way, test your stuff (as you should anyway). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_bp88 Posted June 5, 2012 Author Share Posted June 5, 2012 I really like the crane cable knives jmc, very creative. I may give that a shot once I get my new forge built. Thank you all for giving me a warm welcome and all of the compliments. Nice to have found a place to get some good info with some good people to give it. I will look into the spark test chart next time I have a chance. I have noticed even with the new anvil this leaf spring steel is a challenge to move around the way I want it! I need to get myself a decent pair of tongs for sure. Now that I'm using better steel I need to build a better forge as well, I'll be hopping over to that section in a moment. I started using lump charcoal instead of briquettes, burns much longer but the heat is more concentrated right above my hole for air (which is right smack in the center of a circular charcoal grill pan). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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