thunderforge777 Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 when you forge a knife, how do you bevel the blade without curving it? ive only forged 4 knives so far and they have all been curved. when i flatten one side it curves the blade. so how do you make a bevel when you want your knife to be straight? also how thick should the bevel be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 A ;lot of folks have that same issue. When you hit hot metal it gets thinner,,it expands outward,,the spine of the blade stays where it is and the bottom gets longer,,then it curves up. We started a knife chat on here to help with this and other common issues. Everywednesday eve at ten pm EST join us if you wish. The forging bevels was I think in the 102 session,which you can find in the thread right below this one,,under knifemaking 101,,,and it may help if youstart at the firfst, 101 and read on through to 107,,,,,,,lots of work went into those ,,enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnewberry Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 I put a downward bend in the blade before I begin forging the edge. This compensates for the inevitable movement of metal as you forge the bevel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Bend it the opposite way before forging the bevel in *OR* you can heat the blade and put it arch up on the anvil (spine down) and tap it down until it's straight again---this really works; if you are nervous you can tap it down with a chunk of wood but I use my hammer even when the edge is close to finish forging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 We have said this many times before: making blades requires at least a minimal amount of blacksmithing skills, If you dont know how to straighten a bent a section of steel, back up and learn some basic forging skills and you will find your blades come out much better for the effort, You must learn to walk before trying to run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aden Cassidy Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Or if you want to make it all thin put a bevel on the other side and after you do both bevels (basically at the same time) you can then flatten the middle of the blade where it starts to look like a diamond when looking from the tip/tang downwords. I made a blade like this, haven't finished it, it was a practice piece to see what I could do. Have to find it and finish it. Sort of dagger like with a rounded tip.(mine still has the thickest bit in the middle though). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nonjic Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Like others, I was shown to precurve the blank downwards, and let the bevel push it back up. Lots of factors affect the amount of precurve - I usually start of with something bananna shaped in profile ! Its rare I will get the amount of precurve spot on, so it tends to be a combination of precurve, and 'wacking the spine or the edge' as necessary. I have got a very heavy hammer with hide inserts that is usefull for the adjustments ( tends to be a solid thump needed, not really 'forging' ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 why is it so hard to forge a bevel? if it starts to curve, straighten it then, thats all ya need to do. Read the knife making classes, we covered this material already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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