1st cable knife

[Dasher]

Hi all, just finishing my 1st cable knife, in fact the 1st thing i've forged period, I thought I would put it up, not so much to show it, but for any obvious faults more experienced makers can point out, I'm aware of some glaring mistakes, my bevels are not very good, but I'm working on a better grinding set up where I can actually see the contact point, whereas I'm working blind at the moment. My method was 19mm fswr [used, and full of grease], soaked in kerosene overnight, welded ends with a re bar handle on one end as I only made my 1st tongs AFTER the knife, heat to bright red, coat with borax, reheat a touch hotter and twist up tight in a vice. I tried to only twist extra tight the blade portion, hoping for a sort of slightly expanded grip, I then set the weld with multi heats and gentle tapping until I felt it was becoming solid, then started hitting a bit harder. My hammer control is still pretty green and I struggled to control the shaping of the blade well, it sort of found it's own shape, I'm pretty sure that will come better with practice. The weld seems to be pretty sound as best as I can make out, so I'm happy with that. Treatment was 2 times to critical and air cool, then critical to ATF quench, followed by 1hr at 200 deg cel. Etching was initially 10 to 1 hydrochloric acid, but barely made a mark after an hour, so I rightly or wrongly upped the ratio to about 60/40,  and still didn't get much after 3 or 4 hrs, I then tried caustic soda at around 20% which worked better but is still very feint, so any advice on how to make it pop a bit more would be great. Feel free to tell me if I've done anything really dumb, it's a great way to learn, and I'll still sleep ok, thanks.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Just getting the cable to weld is a feat in itself, especially your first attempt. Ya done good.

[Daswulf]

For cheap etching I've used vinegar heated to the boiling point for around a half hour to 40 minutes. (Maybe longer)

Looks like you got a decent weld from what I can see.

Not a great knife shape but that comes with learning. You need to learn to make what You want, not what the steel wants. Great first with cable. 

 

[Dasher]

Thanks IDF and Daswulf, yeah the priority was to get a sound weld, I didn't want to rock the boat too much by overworking the steel, so , took the easy route and followed the steel instead of it following me, a thicker cable would give me a bit more shape options I suppose, but I've got a fair bit of this stuff so I'll experiment a bit and learn a bit hopefully.

[rockstar.esq]

Boiled vinegar has a way of getting right up your sinuses.  My dog won't have anything to do with the kitchen when vinegar has been boiled.

 

[Cedar Crest Forge]

Is there any reason for boiling it, other than a faster reaction? I've been using PCB etchant, which is working fine for me, even diluted.

[Daswulf]

Yeah, heating it just caused a faster reaction. 

[Dasher]

Daswulf, I went back and tried the vinegar, worked well, but took a couple of hours as the carbon build up seemed to slow it down a bit, once I started to pull it out and lightly clean it a bit, then re dipped it, it went quicker,I've got a reasonable contrast now with only a light buff, leaving a few smudgy grey areas, which I think I'll leave because heavier buffing will reduce the etch effect I think. Thanks for the heads up.