destressing

The grading period just ended with a flurry of long hours and high stress. I felt relaxed yesterday for the first time in too long. The weather was a perfect 70 degrees. After school I went home and fired up the forge for a few swings of the hammer. It felt very good.

i feel good about recycling

I feel good about making beautiful knives out of steel that otherwise would have ended up in a landfill or being melted down to make plowshares or toasters. It takes a lot of our natural resources to make new steel. I like to feel I am helping in some small way by recycling everything possible.

–Wayne Goddard, professional bladesmith and author

still around but busy

I know I've been so bad about posting. Family, farm, and faith have been taking up all of my free time. I haven't even touched metal in way too long! It's on my mind though, and hopefully I'll have some time for it soon. I need it. I stopped by Mike's place and saw his new Little Giant. What a beauty! Mike, you're firing up some motivation in me. I'd like to swing by and see what that hammer can do.

normalizing vs. annealing

There is some confusion about knowing when to normalize and when to anneal. Personally, I haven't been annealing the pieces I work on, but I think I'll change that due to the following information I found on the topic. I have just been running my blades through three normalizing cycles.

This is from bladesmith Ed Caffrey:

After you've completed forging, bring the steel to 1200-1300F, which in most cases, depending on your ambient light, will be a very dull blood red. Then allow the steel to cool in still air to below 800F. This is what I refer to as my "insurance policy" because doing so will heal any grain growth that occurred. In addition, it is also stress relieving the steel. I perform this cycle 3X, then go to non-magnetic for the annealing heat, and place the steel in vermiculite.

Its basically doing the same things that I previously described, but just "better". Spectrographs have shown that the steel is achieving smaller grain size than most other methods I've had tested.

I also perform the "thermal cycling" just prior to hardening a blade, and as with the other method, it will usually eliminate any warpage.

Annealing will relieve stresses, but sometimes not all of the stress....and often times this will lead to warpage later on in the process. In my opinion, stress relieving steps are a must, and if you choose not to perform them, you may not experience probelms, but on the other hand you might......I would rather err on the side of caution, than fret about it after something has gone south.

And this by the infamous Quenchcrack:

If I may offer more explanation on annealing vs normalizing. Annealing involves heating a steel for the purpose of SOFTENING it. You will find that different steels involve different temperatures. Heating to 1350-1450F and very slowly cooling it will soften most steels without much grain growth. Heating to 1650F and slow cooling may soften it more but may result in larger grains, which generally are a bit more brittle. Normalizing is intended to homogenize the grain size after forging or welding. It will also stress relieve if cooled slowly. Large grains promote deeper hardening when you quench it so it is important that all the grains be about the same size or you get non-uniform hardening and possibly warping. Normalizing a high carbon steel can make it harder. The higher the normalizing temperature, the more you risk grain growth. The longer you hold it at a high temperature, the more the grains grow. If you normalize several times, try to do it a a lower temperature each time. This will reduce the grain size and improve toughness.

creosote awl

I lead an after school club and we make books. I confess that I am a bit of a bibliophile. I needed an extra awl and decided to try some of that creosote wood I had harvested a year ago. I am very pleased with it. It has a dense oily feel and I'm looking forward to putting a fine finish on it when I use some for a knife handle.

couple of current bush projects

Did a little work on these two bush knives yesterday, since I had the day off. The top one is from a HF file made in India. Matt had an analysis of these files done and discovered the steel is excellent. The bottom one is going to be a full size knife, hopefully a bowie style. I used leaf spring for it.

little knob thing

My wife has been wanting me to make some knobs for her. I punched out this one for starters. Lots of room for variation and creativity with these things.

discouragement and the final little bushy

Sometimes plans run amuck. I was working on the little bushy and having some trouble straightening the edge. I kept hammering lightly on it after it had turned to a black heat and ended up cracking it. I know I'm out of practice; haven't made a knife in months. I should have been easier on myself, but I got quite discouraged. And this happens to me every so often. Handling discouragement well is important to the smith and any craftsman. In the past I have often wallowed in it and allowed it to come between me and the craft, leading to a period of unproductivity. But I'm trying to look at setbacks differently. When I cracked this blade recently. I just threw the knife on the scrap pile and went in the house. My wife had rented a movie called "Gifted Hands" ironically enough and she said it was great. I ate some lunch, sat down and watched it. It was inspiring, and took my mind right off my discouragement. After the movie I went back outside. I picked up the knife and realized it was still quite salvageable. I shortened it, finished it, as well as another little project and started on another knife. It was a good lesson for me, and one I hope I remember the next time I botch something. Anyway, here is the little guy.





And with my other bush for comparison.

camera broke

My camera broke, and I really liked it, so I'm stuck using whatever I can find and having to settle for mediocre image quality. Here's the little bush I've been working on so far. I did some filing on it. I will sand it a little and then harden it.

a little forging fever

My desire to forge became irresistible, so on Saturday I grabbed a piece of old file, a hammer, and started swinging.

The beginning piece...



Peen out the end, flipping the piece over and forging on each side to keep things even.



Alternate peen and flat face to keep a clear idea of how much flare you have.



Finish hammer the surface and clean up the profile with files or bench grinder.



Curve it in the swage.



Use the horn to flatten everything out to the same plane.





Forge the blade end and precurve to compensate for the forging of the bevels.



Finished knife to come soon.