billyO Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Hello all, hope the newly arrived autumn (or spring for those of you in the southern hemisphere) is treating everyone well. Got another day in the forge yesterday and pounded out these two new blades. The top one is from a billet of 88 layers of 1080/15N20 and the bottom one is from one of 352 layers of 1095/15N20. Didn't really have a pattern or plan on either as I'm still learning this craft and seeing how the steel moves under the hammer, which is why the shorter one ended up with a little bit of a drop point. Here they are after rough grinding: and here they are after the heat treat and 3 one hour tempers at ~400 degrees: Not sure how to finish the forged swell at the finger guard before etching, most likely a lot of hand sanding. Was thinking about leaving it as forged, but not sure how that will look after etching the rest of the blade. Any suggestions? Comments and critiques are also welcome. Have a great day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian923 Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Well, I would finish it with the swells and see how it looks... you can always grind them down and re etch the blade if they look bad. But it's really hard to put them back on... knives look good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billyO Posted September 28, 2016 Author Share Posted September 28, 2016 Well., apparently I made a couple of wall hangers. I guess I didn't pay close enough attention to my heat as I was forging, and post etch polish, I noticed 3 fractures in the steel in the handle. blade did fine through the heat treat, so I can only assume it happened during the forging. I may use the longer one as a kitchen/utility knife and avoid heavy use to see how the edge lasts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccustomknives Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 Ok, lesson learned. It's always a good idea to learn to walk before you run or learn to drive a Ford Escort before getting behind the wheel of a Mercedes. Knifemaking is just the same. Learn to grind and heat treat then to forge. When you have those down then move to Damascus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billyO Posted December 10, 2016 Author Share Posted December 10, 2016 Hello all. Sorry for the late reply, but for some reason, I have been unable to access IForgeIron for the past couple of months. I found out that these were not cracks, but rather etch lines from not having a deep enough container for my ferric chloride (which has since been replaced). I re-sanded and re-etched no lines Here's a pic of the bottom one with a handle. This will be the last time (for a while at least) that I try the finger swells and definitely will be making sure I don't drop the handle as much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.