Forging A Knife

[amishfoot]

Ok so the first try was a terrible failure  But, finally, I am staring this build along lol. This is my first build along and i lost some pictures:( but ill try and make due with the ones I have. Just ask if you have questions and ill try and answer. But, anyway this is just your basic build along about how to make a skinning/throwing anything you want knife.

[amishfoot]

First, you want to start out with steel I like to use a 2" by 3/8" by about 9" or 10" piece of 1084 high carbon steel. Then, weld a piece of rebar to where you want the handle of your knife. Make it a very thick weld. The thicker the weld the less likely it will break off while you are hammering and it also eliminates the use of tongs. But, if your bar of steel is extra long the handle isn't needed and you can grab it with your hand.

[amishfoot]

Before you start hammering, you need to know the parts of the knife. I found this picture online and it is very good to find out what the parts are lol.

[amishfoot]

Now is where things start getting funky because I lost a lot of pictures that were too blurry to see what was going on. But, first you want to start hammering from the edge to the spine making the rounded edge and the tip. Just do it as your personal preference or until your arm gets tired if you don't know lol   Just make sure it is a nice rounded curve and there are minimal to zero dents in it. A very helpful tip I recieved from Burton himself of www.burtoncutlery.com is to flatten the knife as you go because it will smash and warp. This will help you a lot as you forge throughout this build along.

[amishfoot]

Next you will need to put in your handle. This will start anywhere from 7 to 4 inches from the tip of the blade and then will be about five inches out to the end from there about 3/4" to 1 1/2", just whatever your preference is and whatever you think. To do this you put the bolster on the rounded tip of your anvil and hammer away at the spine of it until there is a divot in the handle that is however thick you want the handle to be. and then flatten the rest of the handle so it is all parallel. And flatten out the rest the entire blade again.

[amishfoot]

Lastly, you do the taper. You work from the spine to the edge of the blade first and that taper is from however big your bar is at the spine to 3/8" or smaller at the edge. Then, do the same from the center of the blade to the tip to give you a nice point. From this point on, reduce the number of dents in your blade, use a hammer with a very broad flat head. After you have the taper the way you like it, straighten the whole blade one more time and make sure it is exactly the way you like it. And once it is the way you like it use a wire brush to wipe off all the slag. Then you are ready to temper.

[amishfoot]

Now is time to do the temper. First and foremost you need to make sure all your equipment is ready to use very quickly. I put my magnet on my forge and a bucket or can of oil  that is as deep as your knife. When you put it in the oil it needs to be nonmagnetic. It will look nonmagnetic and probably sparkly. Make sure it is nonmagnetic and plunge it in the oil.

[amishfoot]

Plunge it in for 3 seconds out for 2 then back in till it cools. I put out the fire after about fifteen seconds but immediately put the knife back in.When it is cooled and dried lightly glide a file over the blade and if you did it right it should sound glassy. The next step is to cover the knife in foil and put it in the oven at 375 degrees and bake it for an hour. Then let it air cool completely. You can do this up to three times to get the best hardness.

[amishfoot]

Lastly you need to grind the blade to the exact shape you want. Make it as perfect as you can and try not to burn it. Then put as best of an edge you can.Then when it is as you want it  you sand it i prefer a 1" belt sander but really any sander will do and put a sharper edge on it with a sander. Then put a nice edge on it with a stone and you have a knife.  And sorry about there not being more pictures but they just didn't turn out and I had to take the one of the finished knife on my phone so it sucks but just ask if you need more detail and hope you enjoyed it.

[amishfoot]

By the way when I said the first try was a terrible failure i ment the first build along lol couldnt figure out the pictures

[Cameroo]

Looks like a pretty heavy blade.  Do you have a better picture of the finished product?

[amishfoot]

ill try and get one later because i dont have a camera lol ill borrow one and its weight would really suprise you