scjohnson243 Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 Morning Guys... So, a few weeks ago I made a homemade forge, filled it with charcoal and heated up a old lawnmower blade and just bent one end around then threw it in the trash, thinking it was just a peice of junk metal. After some reading, I hear that it would be nice metal to make a knife or blade of sometype with.... So, I dug it back out of the trash and wanted to straighten it out a bit, and maybe make a nice billet (I think thats the term). I want to make it a fairly uniform size and melt it all together for when I learn more and get ready to take on such a project. My plan was to heat it up till it starts to "spark" and hammer it over on itself a few times, trying to come up with a uniform shape that will be a bit easier to work with later... Is that a fairly decent plan, or should I leave it like it is and put it in a pile of steel for "later".. Worse case I make it unusable, best case I have a nice piece of steel later for when i decide to try a knife of some sort. Thanks! (Sorry if this is the wrong forum, seemed like a "General" type of question!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 read up on forge welding and have at it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maillemaker Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 Do a whole lot of reading first. I'm not sure what you're trying to do here. If you are trying to make a pattern-welded billet, you are missing a couple things. Pattern-welded steel is made with at least two different steels that are stacked in layers and welded together. If this is what you are trying to do, you need to have a contrasting steel in addition to the mower blade. I noticed you said you wanted to "melt" the steel together. Welding is very different from melting. Generally, blacksmiths have nothing to do with melting steel. That's a foundry operation. If you are trying to make the steel thicker by folding it in half and welding, go for it. However, if your welds are poor, you run the risk of having the finished product break along the faulty weld line. If you are just trying to straighten it out, there's no problem with that. Mower blade is a good steel for knives and such because of the medium to high carbon content. Have fun bashing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 In the knife making section of the forum look for knifemaking 101 then into the 200 series..thesse are not foe starting points, they are for very advanced knife makers and cover how to put a billet togeter,,prep work being a basic. Look these over and learn lots and lots of basics,,like fire control and working with hot metal and using tools,,Later in a couple of years dig this info out of your workbook and see if you are ready.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scjohnson243 Posted January 29, 2013 Author Share Posted January 29, 2013 Thanks for the input, sorry for the confusion - I wasn't looking to melt it (on purpose) I was looking to forge weld it all together in a thicker more uniform chunk - I have found out that doing it correctly is beyond my skills at this point so I put it back on the pile and just will let it sit till I get more experience. I figured that welding it together would be one of the easier things to do, apparently its not as easy as I would have assumed. Thank you all again! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maillemaker Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Welding is finicky if you don't have much experience. Mark Aspery has several great videos on Youtube that discuss weld theory, as well as general procedure. Once you get the hang of it, welding has a huge diversity of uses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert A Rasch Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 SC, i don't have a lot of experience, but I've been attending to the world of smithing for many years. if I may make a suggestion, get out that old blade, heat it up and flatten it. Flatten it until it is as flat as a piece of paper, or nearly so. Then bend it ninety degrees somewhere in the first third. make that ninety as square and even as possible. Now flip it over and put another ninety in it so it looks like a staircase. When that's as perfect as you can get it, heat it up and flatten it again. Now try folding it ninety degrees the long way. Flatten again. if the blade is an old worn out one, then the end will bee somewhat rounded. try to square it up. All of these exercises will make you a better smith, and teach you the principles of moving metal. And at least it will keep you occupied! Regards, Albert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scjohnson243 Posted January 29, 2013 Author Share Posted January 29, 2013 SC, i don't have a lot of experience, but I've been attending to the world of smithing for many years. if I may make a suggestion, get out that old blade, heat it up and flatten it. Flatten it until it is as flat as a piece of paper, or nearly so. Then bend it ninety degrees somewhere in the first third. make that ninety as square and even as possible. Now flip it over and put another ninety in it so it looks like a staircase. When that's as perfect as you can get it, heat it up and flatten it again. Now try folding it ninety degrees the long way. Flatten again. if the blade is an old worn out one, then the end will bee somewhat rounded. try to square it up. All of these exercises will make you a better smith, and teach you the principles of moving metal. And at least it will keep you occupied! Regards, Albert Thanks Albert, Great advice. The blade has a bunch of rust and "Stuff" on it, before I start hammering on it (or any chunk of metal for that matter) should I bring it to the grinder and knock off the "stuff" to clean it up? Keeping myself occupied is great, I got the ABANA "Lessons" recently, so I'm going to start with them and start going down them one at a time to get the basic skills down. Hopefully find an anvil before too much longer - The railroad metal I'm currently using is not "Flat" as I would like it on top, but I guess some time with a grinder could fix that, too. Thanks again for the ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJergensen Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Heat it up and go for it. Rust will come right off in the process. I suspect your "anvil" is flat enough. Most anvils that have been around for a while have surface variations ranging from chips and dents to overall curvature (ex: swaybacked). Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert A Rasch Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 The point of impact is rather small, and what you will find is that the anvil's curvature will act somewhat like a fuller, concentrating your blow at the point of impact. One thing it will teach you is how to aim and hit the right spot! You miss the spo that exactly sandwiches the metal between the rail and the hammer, and you will feel it immediately. The key is to manage your fire, heat up the metal without burning it, and hit it properly with the hammer. The rest comes from experience and observation. Regards, Albert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borntoolate Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 So if you want to learn blacksmithuing then you are probably trying to start at page 10 without reading pages 1-9. If you want to make knives then you really don't need to learn blacksmithing since you can make a knife with your existing lawnmower blade and a grinder/belt sander and a hacksaw. So figure out what you want to do then figure out where page one is and start there. I do not mean to be mean spirited by the way. You built somthing, you used it, you tried something and then you asked some questions. You are on the exciting road to learning. I applaud you. Wow. you are in Baton Rouge and so am I. IM me. I see Dan (old and rusty has already Homeboyed yu?) By the way I would learn blacksmithing regardless. you may not "need" it to make a knife but unless you love grinding, sanding and cutting I would suggest you add it. I am not a knife maker by the way. You need to think about how you will put a handle on your knife and how your tang will help? Woodworking...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert A Rasch Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 SC: A friend of mine has a website, and a list of free publications relating to Smithing. I thought you might like to take a look at them: http://smith-forge.org/autoindex/ This is particularly good: It's ABANA's Forging Fundamentals, and takes you step by step: ABANA Forging Fundamentals regards, Albert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bajajoaquin Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 One of the details of your question seems to have been overlooked: If you heat it up to sparking, you're going to be burning the steel, particularly a higher-carbon steel like a mower blade. At those temps, it's really easy to go a little too far and end up with a lot of nothing on the end of your tongs. But as you get more and more into smithing, you'll learn that sort of stuff. Save the blade for another time, and start with mild steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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