Another Newb saying "Hi"

[HEAP of JEEP]

Name's Jason, although I signed up under my Jeep youtube channel name... just habit.  Located just outside of Traverse City, MI, and have always had a dream of learning how to smash hot metal into cool shapes, and even though I'm not a knife fanatic, I've always had a love for pattern welded blades and really wanted to learn how they were made. 

So, did a lot of reading, watched some videos, and then just jumped right in.  Built a brake drum forge out of some old jeep parts and a thrift shop hair dryer.  Found a cheap 80 pound anvil on craigslist, and picked up a couple of hammers at the flea market, and off I went.

So far, I've only made a couple of pair of tongs, and some spiral candle holders for xmas gifts, but I have been trying some pattern welded blades.  After reading about how known steel is so much better, but being a complete cheap skate, I decided to temp fate and tried to weld 7 layers from an old Jeep leaf spring, alternating with some scrap mild steel I had from a bumper I fabricated this summer.  Folded it a few times and wound up with 56 layers.  Forged it in to a general knife shaped object, heat treated it, etched it, and decided it was a decent proof of concept, so decided to actually attempt a real knife from the same metals.  I increased the layer count of the mild steel a bit and wound up with 64 layers.  My woodworking for the handle needs a lot of work, but I'm pretty geeked with how my first actual knife came out.

So, two things have happened in the past couple of weeks... one, since I'm doing all of this by hand, I noticed my right hand (hammering hand) is quite swollen.  A couple of fingers are so swollen they can't even make a fist.  So I've decided to take a break for a few days (or longer), until they heal up... I'm pretty sure its just a reaction to my usual hot headed, jump right in at all cost, xxxx the torpedoes attitude, and if I had started out slower and worked my way up, my 46 year old body may have adjusted to the new stresses better.  I've also convinced my wife to let me build a forge press, although sourcing all of the parts will be a slow process, since the $ has to come out of my usual "hobby" budget, which is almost nonexistent, but over time will allow me to pick up what I need, and should ultimately save me from myself, because even though I'm not healed up yet, I've already got the next billet ready to go in to the forge and will probably convince myself that there's no real reason to wait for the swelling to go down, thus making things worse... blah blah blah.

anyways... that's my story.  I don't know how much I'll be able to contribute, but just wanted to drop in and say hello, since I've gained a lot of useful knowledge just from reading this forum.

Here's a couple of pictures from my first knife.  Try not to laugh.

 

[Daswulf]

Welcome aboard Jason. Fellow heap jeeper here, as all of mine are heaps. I like the pattern you made and even more that it's made from jeep  

i know one guy out by you that's in traverse city. MI. 

There could be some reasons for the hand swelling like how your swinging the hammer, anvil height, blah blah. Haha there are some threads on it on here. Anyway hope ha heal up and can get going without beating your hand up. 

[Buzzkill]

There's nothing to laugh about regarding that knife.  If that were my first knife I'd be quite proud of it.  How is the handle held in place?  Just epoxy or do you have some other fasteners that we can't see in the pictures.  With what you have there it is still entirely possible to bring the handle into a shape more to your liking.  The 2 dimensional profile isn't bad, but you could sand it more to rounded shapes that feel good in the hand.  That's always the key (for me anyway) with a knife handle.  No matter how good or bad it looks if you're going to use it then you want it to feel comfortable in your hand while you are using it.  If it's just going to hang on a wall then how it looks is more important.

Regarding the swollen hands I can't say for sure what the reason is, but some people tend to grip the hammer handles far too tightly when they are starting out and that will result in a host of problems over time.  As Daswulf suggested, you may want to look up some of the threads regarding anvil height, hammer control, etc. to see if you can pinpoint one or more issues.  If you do have any bad habits, you want to change them early on before you get set in your ways as that will save you a lot of pain in the long run.  I'm still a newbie at a lot of this stuff myself, but there's my 2 cents and hopefully some more experienced folks will chime in with some good advice.

[D.C.]

That is some beautiful steel. Well done!

[HEAP of JEEP]

21 hours ago, Buzzkill said:

There's nothing to laugh about regarding that knife.  If that were my first knife I'd be quite proud of it.  How is the handle held in place?  Just epoxy or do you have some other fasteners that we can't see in the pictures.  With what you have there it is still entirely possible to bring the handle into a shape more to your liking.  The 2 dimensional profile isn't bad, but you could sand it more to rounded shapes that feel good in the hand.  That's always the key (for me anyway) with a knife handle.  No matter how good or bad it looks if you're going to use it then you want it to feel comfortable in your hand while you are using it.  If it's just going to hang on a wall then how it looks is more important.

Regarding the swollen hands I can't say for sure what the reason is, but some people tend to grip the hammer handles far too tightly when they are starting out and that will result in a host of problems over time.  As Daswulf suggested, you may want to look up some of the threads regarding anvil height, hammer control, etc. to see if you can pinpoint one or more issues.  If you do have any bad habits, you want to change them early on before you get set in your ways as that will save you a lot of pain in the long run.  I'm still a newbie at a lot of this stuff myself, but there's my 2 cents and hopefully some more experienced folks will chime in with some good advice.

Since this was just a first attempt and I'm not really sure how well my combination of steels will actually hold an edge, I wasn't worried about pins, so the handle is just held on by epoxy.  My only goal for this knife is to have it sit on a shelf as a reminder of where I started.  Every knife I make from now on will always be compared to this one, and hopefully, I'll be able to see marked improvements as I continue to learn and refine my skills.

Since making a billet, by hand,  large enough for this small knife was so challenging, my next attempt is going to be two smaller billets for the sides and single piece of the leaf spring laminated in between for the cutting edge.  This should let me a get larger knife, but I am also going to try and forge a full tang and get my first experience with pinning the scales.  There's just so much to learn, and with this injury and real life getting in the way, it never seems like there is enough time, but it will sure be an interesting journey.

23 hours ago, Daswulf said:

Welcome aboard Jason. Fellow heap jeeper here, as all of mine are heaps. I like the pattern you made and even more that it's made from jeep  

i know one guy out by you that's in traverse city. MI. 

There could be some reasons for the hand swelling like how your swinging the hammer, anvil height, blah blah. Haha there are some threads on it on here. Anyway hope ha heal up and can get going without beating your hand up. 

Always nice to meet a fellow Jeeper!

I took your advice and researched some threads on here and it sure does sound like I may have a death grip on my hammer, plus, from what I can tell, since I have smaller hands, the handles are probably a little large me.  Last night I took my 3 pound cross peen and narrowed down the handle, quite a lot really, until it fit better, then took some practice swings at some 2x4's I set up at the same height as my anvil.  I know there's a big difference between hitting soft wood and metal on an anvil, but for a few practice swings, to see if I could get a better technique, I think it worked fine.  Anyways, with a much looser grip, and a handle that fit my hand better, I wasn't getting any pain or discomfort in my hand, even with my current condition.  I still have to let it heal up before I get to any actual forging work, but at least I felt productive in my down time, and think I'm on the right track, at least.

45 minutes ago, D.C. said:

That is some beautiful steel. Well done!

Thank You D.C.!

[Daswulf]

Jason, good to hear. On the handle, yes it needs to suit your grip. All hands are different and the handle needs to fit your hand. I was told to keep my thumb off the top of the handle as well. Don't know if you do that or not. I'm finally kicking that bad habit. If your first blade is that nice I'm sure you will make some very fine blades to come.