kjbarth Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 Hi from North Jersey. I have no experience blacksmithing but am trying to learn. I became interested through straight razors - I've been doing restores and honing on straight razors for a bit and thought I'd like to try to make one. As I started researching, I thought maybe I should try making a knife or a few knives first. I may be wrong but I figure a knife might be a little more forgiving to mistakes than a straight razor. I have a KMG grinder. 2 buffers, a lot of honing stones and am planning to build a propane forge from an old expansion tank from my furnace. I have a couple of 50 lb railroad track pieces and a few smaller ~20 - 25 lb pieces for my anvils for now. I have some 1084 and O1 tool steel pieces and a bunch (40) of old railroad spikes. I'm looking for a used HT oven but figured I ought to start doing something with what I have now before investing in an oven. I'll be lurking all over the site trying to learn as much as I can. Ken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 Welcome to IFI, you can find information about all that and more here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 Welcome, I graduated from Holmdel High, Holmdel NJ (mile 114-117 on the GSP) You are correct knives are much more forgiving than razors. We do have a couple straight razor makers here IIRC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 Welcome to IFI! If you haven’t yet, please READ THIS FIRST!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjbarth Posted June 9, 2018 Author Share Posted June 9, 2018 16 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: I graduated from Holmdel High, Holmdel NJ (mile 114-117 on the GSP) Brings to mind the old joke, 'You from Jersey, I'm from Jersey.... What exit?'. I'm off 145. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 Well you get used to judging where you are by the exits...Unfortunately my High school has been in the news lately---I read about on the BBC website! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 10, 2018 Share Posted June 10, 2018 Welcome aboard Ken, glad to have you. You'll hear it soon enough but RR spikes do NOT have enough carbon to make a good blade. Sure you can forge one into the shape and sharpen it but it won't hold an edge, can't. You can slit and weld in a high carbon bit or sandwich it in san mai fashion but I don't know how that'd work as a razor. Then again I'm not a bladesmith guy in spite of the number of folk who have been trying to lure me onto the dark side. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjbarth Posted June 10, 2018 Author Share Posted June 10, 2018 Thanks Frosty for the RR spike info. After I build my forge, I'll need some tools like tongs so maybe I can make some tongs using the RR spikes. Will be a good learning experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 10, 2018 Share Posted June 10, 2018 Hardness is generally associated with brittleness and for some reason the Railroads don't want their spikes to snap off any time a train stresses them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 10, 2018 Share Posted June 10, 2018 There are a couple how to videos for making tongs from RR spikes. They make generally good marketable products, folks can see a recognizable object transformed into whatever you're selling. There's also a thread about things you can make with RR spikes. It's good stock just not for knives. Letter openers, yes, knives nope. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latticino Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 If you are planning on getting into bladesmithing and don't have a couple of usable tongs you may get a bit frustrated forging down the spikes into tongs. Drawing out the reins to a decent crossection is a lot of work, and you need tongs to hold them securely while working on them. I've found it is easier to make a first set of tongs out of stock long enough to work while still holding it in the off hammer hand. Twist tongs are probably the easiest, but you will have to be a little creative with the bit ends to make them capable of holding the 3/4" square spike tips securely. If on a budget I recommend you look into getting some of the waterjet cutout Ken's Tongs blanks for your first set. They are very reasonably priced and take a lot of the work out of making blade tongs, in particular drawing out the reins, while still allowing you to customize the tongs to the size stock you want to use. They also have a quick railroad spike tong kit which is one of the best styles I've used, if you want to preserve the spike head. If not, their bolt tongs will work well. Another style of blade making tong I find very helpful is a tusk tong like these (though they are deceptively difficult to forge well). Don't know who sells these particular blanks, but they are on etsy. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 9 minutes ago, Latticino said: though they are deceptively difficult to forge well I can vouch for this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjbarth Posted June 11, 2018 Author Share Posted June 11, 2018 1 hour ago, Latticino said: If on a budget I recommend you look into getting some of the waterjet cutout Ken's Tongs blanks for your first set. Thanks for the info and advice. I found Ken's website and will look around at their tongs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjbarth Posted June 12, 2018 Author Share Posted June 12, 2018 Ok, I'm probably breaking a rule here by not just reading postings and digesting the information but I suffer a bit from analysis paralysis (and this is feeding that) and I really want to get going on building a propane forge. I'm reading the "Forges 101" posting with a lot of great information and details from Mikey98118 but I'm only 3 pages through of 30 pages total. I like knowing what I'm doing and why I'm doing it so the details there are appropriate and necessary (at least for me). But, its going to take me time to get through all 30 pages, maybe a couple weeks (I don't have unlimited time to just sit and read everything). I'm wondering if there are a few key posting in the thread that I should focus on first so I can get started and do something to begin building the forge while I'm reading the rest of the postings in the thread. I've got an old expansion tank from my furnace (about 1" in diameter less than a 20 lb propane tank but several inches longer) plus 8 old 20 lb propane tanks that I can use as well. If there are some key postings in that thread or elsewhere that I should focus on first to start doing something, could some of you knowledgeable folks please point them out? Otherwise, if you feel I should just stay the course and continue reading and learning so I can make a more knowledgeable plan before starting, please let me know that as well too. I want to make best use of my time. Thanks, and again sorry if I'm breaking rules about not reading the available information. Ken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzkill Posted June 12, 2018 Share Posted June 12, 2018 This one has a lot of the information you need and is only a couple pages long. There are a number of these in the gas forge section. https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/53874-construction-of-gas-forge/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 12, 2018 Share Posted June 12, 2018 Well you might visit Wayne Coe's website and look over his instructions for building a propane forge from a propane tank... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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