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I Forge Iron

how to forge a knife as a beginner


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Dont feel bad young man my hat is off to you because I also made the mistake of using rebar and jumped strait to knives I just wish I had found this site before wasting a lot of time but we all have to start some where . the guys that have comment on your knife I follow they give great advice and so far it is working for me I want to be a blade smith also but I have had to reboot so to speak and take the time to learn the art of blacksmithing . it is very emportant to me because I love this so much . so with that said go on to beginner projects on IFI and start looking and reading then read again you will start to visualize what they are talking about . yes your nice is rough but hey I took a car jack handle for my first time forging and tried to make a heart something simple right ........wrong it looked like the worst broken heart I'd ever seen so I went to making neckless charms double blade Axe's hearts small easy items that flatten the metal and cutting the shapes with a 4 in grinder then rolling the clasp around a screw driver stuck in my vice . taught me a lot about the patience of blacksmithing didnt used much coal or material was a great exercise for myself another green horn ..... Keep up the good work you got the first step complete getting out there and trying now take these guys advise and use it in your forge you won't be dissatisfied with the out come .....

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 3/19/2017 at 2:44 PM, forge of serendepity said:

 

 

Hi

I am not going to talk about the knife itself here, I think the message about  using appropriate steel has been made already.

 

I do have some observations about general safety however, and they are meant in the best possible way.

First, your grinder does not appear to be actually fixed to your work surface - a couple of bolts through the mounting holes will take care of that and not only make the grinder much less likely to fall over and cause some hideous accident but also greatly improve the efficiency and accuracy of your grinding.

Second the work surface itself appears to be just balanced on top of a box, the other end is not visible so I hope that at least is also supported by something but again if you get everything fastened down you will be so much more safe and expend less wasted energy when everything moves around.

Third I see eye protection but no respiratory protection, if you look at the work surface and imagine all that black dust inside your lungs you should want to rush out and get at the very least some simple dust masks. You are young and do not want to mess your lungs up at this early stage in life.

Finally I would be very careful about wearing a glove and long sleeves when using a grinder, I would personally rather get slightly burned fingers than have my arm dragged into a rotating machine - just keep a small pot of water nearby (away from the electric supply cables) and dip the blade (or whatever else you are grinding) into it whenever it gets too hot to hold.

In no way do I want to put a dampener on you getting your hands dirty, best of luck to you for doing something practical with your spare time. I just want you to make it to my age with all your fingers intact and not coughing up bits of lung!

Dave

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