one day I would like to forge my own blades to put into a handle. Until that day comes, where I can get an anvil and a place to do it, is there anywhere (books for example) that is a good place to start as a complete neophyte?
Cheers,
-Will ]]>
The question is- what weight would be suitable?
The hammers I'm looking at go up to 2kg. Would this be too heavy?
I'm a bit of a lump myself so I could probably handle the heavier one but then good technique will always win over brute strength.;)
Any thoughts?
Thanks, Del. ]]>
I've just finished my first forged blade but i have a slight problem with it: it doesn't hold the edge as I would like it. As for material I used spring steel heated to light red (around 870 Celsius) quenched it in motor oil and then tempered with a torch from the back of the blade the colors ranging from blue (at the back of the blade) to deep straw (at the edge). The steel was annealed before quenching. So, what am I doing wrong?:S ]]>
Swordsmith Walter Sorrells' gallery, scroll down to the 3rd sword....
http://www.waltersorrells.com/blades/gallery.htm
Quote:
|
the customer who commissioned the blade wanted a view of Mount Fuji included in the hamon. This blade caused a splash when I first made it. Click on the picture to see why. |
For the last couple of years I have lent a New Anyang Power hammer to Owen for his annual forge in in April,.
Im looking for a bit of feedback in this thread from previous years, as well as ideas and suggestions for next year.
The idea behind me lending the hammer is so that as many people as possible can get to use it, ( and you never know, eventually I might sell one :lol: )
Last year I diddnt organise the hammer 'use' very well, and it was a bit chaotic at times, and I worry that a few people that wanted a go might have been a bit nervous about 'pushing in' and having a go (maybee?)
There were also some problems with people trying to forge weld on the hammer as the billet would just be getting to the right heat and it would end up with a cold billet stuck on top of it! ( which is a bit of a nightmare as about 60% of forgewelding is good temperature control!)
So my ideas for next year that I would like a bit of feedback on are,...
I can bring my super toasty welding forge with me aswell as the power hammer, normal anvil & heavy vice. We can then set all of these up as a 'forging cell'.
I am willing to prep some small billets for damascus before hand. Im thinking that possibly on saturday & sunday mornings I could give individuals an informal ?45?min lesson on patterwelding (perhaps 'booked' before hand), 45 mins should be enough to go from unwelded billet to knife blank (twisted, ladder cut or whatever, which could then be ground and etched at your leisure.
Possibly one or two of the other experienced forge welders would be intested in 'teaching' a couple of the sessions in the mornings?
An advantage of this would be anyone can watch a damascus blade being born in less than an hour.
In the afternoons you could 'book' the hammer cell for 'unsupervised' 1/2 hour or so sessions if youve got a project you need a bit of power hammer time for (via a whiteboard?), or we could just leave it as free for all in the afternoons.
Im not trying to 'regiment' the power hammer use at the forge in but would like to see as many people get some use from it as possible,.
so,..................
your thoughts and suggestions please :D ]]>
don't know if these are good value or not
let me know what you think
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT
kindest regards
Mick ]]>
Was some black smith on a course at work for 3 day´s .
Was a course to learn how to make a scythe .
And some that I think are well-know in Uk .
So here are some pics on it.And we can see if someone know the man :lmao:
I have a short movie on it to but in Swedish so you don´t no much but you can see some forging if you like.
http://svtplay.se/v/1767517/liesmide_pa_hults_bruk
Cegga ]]>
This week I get some hammers and crowbars ready all in Damasteel
Hard to get a good pics on them but I hope you like them
Send in a axe it´s not ready yet but not much work left :C
Cegga ]]>
There was a swordsmith named Hector (not sure), he forged a pattern welded blade in a coal forge. That made me think that I should be able to get more than 7 layers of 1.5 mm steel together.
Problem may that I use charcoal and can't form the 'oven' like you do with coal?
Or can it be done with charcoal too? ]]>
been building up to this project for a while so wish me luck! Ill get some photos of the journey :D ]]>
This is getting its own thread coz im very proud of this tatty bit of metal :D
Its the second of my back to basics knives (silver steel), and just for fun I clay backed it before h.t, I quenched it in oil, then after a few seconds into water (dont quite know why, should have done the water first??)
anyhoo, ground it up last night, and gave it a polish tonight and Ive popped my hamon cherry!
The polish could have been much better (I didnt have any finer wet n dry finer than 1200, and to be honest I was ready for my tea!),.
from bar to how it is now has taken 5 hours work, which is more than enough for whats sposed to be quick hammer training :rolleyes:
so here it is. In real life it seems quite magical to me (first hamon ive looked at), a real smokey depth into the steel thats there, then not..... on the photos it looks like a smudge :lol: )
anyhoo, you might make a :ninja: out of me yet!
]]>When you order steel does the steel ever arrived with rust?
If so is it normal? Or do you send it back to the seller when this appends?
And does the steel if rusted needs some treatment before hardening,
or the hardening resolves the rust problem?
Many thanks ]]>