petere76 Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Gents, I saw a video on a japanese knife maker using his powerhammer to set the taper on his knives. it was difficult to see the angle of the tooling but it worked like a charm and it did not mar the grind line. Anyone have a diagram or pic of the tooling that serves this function. I have spring swages for setting the short taper on square stock. However, this tooling doestn work well for knifes. Not having seen a good view of the setup, i'm not sure if it is a lower taper and a flat upper or a matched set. I have a Clay Spencer tire rig and it has served me well. Any ideas? Thanks in advance and a very Merry Christmas to all my fellow iron bangers out there. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironwolfforgeca Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 SO can you post the Video & we can see what you're looking @ ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormcrow Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 I second that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petere76 Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 Iron, " the forging of a hunting knifeTosha Japan, 2013" , seen on U tube. I wasent able to copy the URL, says it wants a subscription. i' m working off a ipad as well, that may be an issue. The bevel is dine later in the video but the best shot of the hammer tooling is in the beginning. Let me know what you think. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Budd Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 i don't think there is any special tapering tool involved. It looks like he is just using the edge of the hammer to thin the edge (likely a slight radius to stop it cutting in and marring) and then a flatter to dress the steps into a taper. I do the same with the flat dies on my flat hammer, only mine really needs the cleaning up since my hammer hasn't been dressed yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 There are tapering dies, i have also seen combination drawing and talering dies. A shallow tapering die might work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 I suggest checking out James (Stormcrow) Helm's videos on youtube of him making a knife with Gunnhilda. He explains how he uses his die set to do the drawing out and tapering in one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petere76 Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 Gents, Spent the morning making a tapered lower die for the hammer, grinder and belt sander machiningI believe the japanese smith has a crowned die wheras he can work both sides to true the taper. I will check out Stormcrows video. I have a good supply of scrap leaf springs and I am determined to figure this out. Never having done many real knives my scrap pile is directly proportional to my many attempts. I persevere . Thanks for your suggestions. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 The die size and the knife size would dictate wether you can taper your die both ways from the center. I do belive I have seen stormcow's vidoe. If i remenber righ his die se is substasualy radiused on the high side, alowinf him to use it as a drawing die, wile alowing him to also forge tapers, not just knives, but punches, chisels and axes with out changing dies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petere76 Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 Charles, Ifound the stormcrow powerhammer synopsis. The dies are mirrors and they have a shallow and a steep side. The radius is large. The video also details their function as well as other custom tooling Mr. Helm produced. I certainly have the idea now. After viewing much of the library I can say that Mr. Helm is a class act. Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 He certainly isnt afraid to use the tools he has, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 I'm half tempted to try to re-enter the service, just so I can order one of his "Aggression " knives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 just get him to make you a swamp machete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Ronnin, at least us old timmers aren't effected by PTSD the same ways the youngin's are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Thomas: He's posted that he isn't taking orders right now except from first responders, police and active duty military... he's got too many on backlog for the rest of us to get in line right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Join your local volantear fire department, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 "Yeah James. I need to order an Aggression done up like the sniper one you made... no I'm not a sniper... no sir, not even in the military. Yessir, I read where you posted you were only taking orders from certain groups, and I qualify. ... Yessir, I'm a volunteer firefighter. ... Why do I need a combat knife you ask?... well, that one looks like it could chop through a door like a fire axe... " Not sure that convo would work out that well. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormcrow Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 I concur with Dave's conclusion: fairly flat face with a slight radius. Was very interesting to watch him forge the bevels in with it, and was a bit surprised to see the hydraulic press for slitting and spreading open the magane (I think was the term) base to sandwich in the high carbon core. Usually in videos I've seen of Japanese bladesmiths, they use a handled chisel under their hammer. I think the press is a darn good way to go, though. You might also search on Youtube for the KA75 forging knives. The guy works his steel too cold for the demo, but it does a good job of showing a taper and flat combo being used to forge knife bevels. It's tempting to make some knife-specific dies with a shallower taper, but I have a lot of other things needing my attention before that. LastRonin - I'm slowly whittling down on my list of commissions! :) Eventually us civvies can get blades too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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