This is something I am working on. I pounded it into rough shape and then cleaned it up on the grinder. I have to smooth out the pits and I need to hammer in the edge bevel.

A couple of comments if you do not mind..it almost seems as if your hammer face is rounded,,that works good for roughing shapes out but a flatter face will help with the smoothing...If you forge down the edge before heat treat you risk a chance of warpage I would heat treat then grind....In any case you have a very good start...enjoy

I don't mind a bit. I know very little because I'm just starting. I appreciate any tip or helpful suggestion that comes my way. I am using a 3# drilling hammer. What you see is pits not necessarily rounded hammer blows. I used a rusty leaf spring.

just my two cents, you can forge or grind the bevel down to about 1/16" before heat treating. After you treat it, it will be hard to file a bevel. Oh and looking very good
Hope this helps
Nitro

I have no bevel on the blade at all. I was planning on just starting the bevel and then cleaning it up on the grinder. I oil quench and then stick it in my toaster oven. I haven't tried the temperature crayons yet.

I guess you really want to practice to tackle working with such a rusty piece of metal. I hope you find some good clean stuff to work with too.

Tom, good start. forging in the bevel would require a flat faced hammer to help reduce frustrations (hard to remove dents), and then a good file or grinder (i still do the file thing). I have been taking the edge down thinner as i get better at this and have had very few problems as yet, as long as i normalize several times during the process. taking a hardened edge down from 1/16" to sharp without powertools, is difficult and time consuming for me, so the closer it is the better i like it. i've already resolved myself to the fact i will experience warped and/or cracked blades but i'm willing to live with that. please take any and all i say with a grain of salt, as i am by no means as knowledgable or talanted as many (most) who post here. azmike

I just want to thin the edge down a little bit. I am not ready to beat the whole thing down yet. I am just going to start it then grind. As far as normalizing. When I am done for the day I will shut my propane forge down and place my blank in the forge overnight so I will cool slowly. I know I won't get all of the pits out but that's what happens with scrapyard steel. thanks everyone for the tips.