Forged from older lawnmower blade..  Good tough steel..   Started as a demo on 8/13..  Made new dogs head hammer to get a thinner edge 8/19.. 

Met with customer and Finalized size and measurements on 8/29..  Finished forged with the new excellent dogs head hammer.    Started clean up 8/29..     Finished clean up and prep for Hardening. 8/30.    

Will have to run test samples to find best hardening and tempering parameters. I have plenty of parent material for testing. 

Not bad for all hand work..   I did use the Multool grinder to remove the scale.. Sadly I only had 36grit and 1 old 50grit belt..  95% finished out by hand file and sanding. 

Photos of  8/13/22

8/29/22 

met with client to finalize details.  Tang was to long..   about 12oz of weight will be needed in the pommel handle for neutral blade weight. 

New Dogs head worked stellar at getting the blade forged to size and edge thickness.

Got one side cleaned up enough to look decent. 

Next 3 photos as forged..     

 

8/30/22 

Both sides cleaned, sanded and steel wooled..   All measurements now set.. 

I don't see as well as I used to and frankly sometimes just takes longer..  The plunge/choil/ricasso  area was tough to even out by hand.. Doesn't help the trailer is darker than I'd like.. 

Next step is to use some of the parent material to create test samples for heat treatment..  

The photos have time stamps..  

 

Thanks for the progression photos. Awesome work!

Your welcome and thanks.  

 Thanks for sharing. Amazing work.

Nice clean bevels.  Very impressive, I still struggle with those on double edged blades.  Draw filing is tedious, but the only way I've been able to get it to work.  I know some folks who can do it all on a belt grinder, and that is real skill.  Good luck with the heat treatment.  As I'm sure you know, lawnmower blades can be a mixed bag, and long thin blades are prone to warpage.

Any concerns about laws concerning sword canes?  I believe that some states prohibit them.

Love it!  It looks great Jennifer.  How's your new hammer feel?  

Thanks Chad..  The new hammer feels great for setting and thinning bevels.  

I did run it thru some paces tonight processing the parent bar stock into long thin section for doing the heat treatment trials. 

It was ok for that process..  the length of the head I find to be annoying since it moves my hand about 2" away from the anvil.. Basically shortening my hammer swing distance..   I'd have to lower the anvil another 2" or just switch back to my old hammers for the heavy metal moving.. Hint, hint.. 

For refining and setting the bevels it was exquisite and for setting the blade width and geometry it was nice too..   I really made it for beveling and it was "AWESOME"..  

It always feels so good to make a tool and use it!

 

 

And have it work "awesome"!

On 8/31/2022 at 9:02 AM, Latticino said:

Nice clean bevels.  Very impressive, I still struggle with those on double edged blades.  Draw filing is tedious, but the only way I've been able to get it to work.  I know some folks who can do it all on a belt grinder, and that is real skill.  Good luck with the heat treatment.  As I'm sure you know, lawnmower blades can be a mixed bag, and long thin blades are prone to warpage.

Any concerns about laws concerning sword canes?  I believe that some states prohibit them.

Thanks..  What you see there is 8 years if blade making before I turned to blacksmithing..  daggers and swords were my go to's.. 

Taking off all this time from this kind of work is always eye opening..   Well that and I'm 54 and can't see well in anything but the brightest of lights and things are still blurry..  dang astigmatism..  Argh..  

I did all the scale clean up on the grinder..  One of the reasons I showed the long blade up to the sun in line is to show the straightness..  Matching bevels both sides without screwing the blade is the toughest part now.. This blade has about 1/8" screw to it over the full distance..  I'll twist it back before heat treatment.. 

The last 3 lawnmower blade I have used have been stellar.  I wish I could out what they are made from.. Super tough steel and holds a decent edge.. 

I don't own a 72" knife grinder and prefer the file over electric..  But, This will come to an end when the school is up.   3 knife grinders will be at the ready.  I can grind flat but don't enjoy it.. 

I really just like to forge blades..   I'd just as soon forge them and throw them in a bucket vs finishing the handles and such.   Wood working is so tedious.  

No concerns at all legally.   There are ways around the laws..    Also it's funny because no one will ever get it apart if they don't know how it works. 

I've got a new design just for my Buddy..   It will have a spear tip on the bottom as well.   

It would take me a gallon of dyekem to get the bevels right.   That's a nice looking blade.