The "dirt cheap" (literally) guide to forging a knife

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EDIT: I"ve had multiple people inquire as to whether or not I sell my blades. I am happy to say that I do! If you see a knife in particular that interests you or if you wish to have one custom made, please send me a PM and we can work out the details. Thank you for all of your kind words and for your genuine fascination with the art of bladesmithing! I had absolutely no idea that this topic would generate so much interest. Oh, I also accept Dogecoin in addition to paypal and google wallet 😛

EDIT #2 – A little PSA for any and all potential smiths:

In 2009, I contracted metal fume fever after inadvertently welding some old barstock that was galvanized. Fortunately, most of the galvanic coating had already worn off, but enough remained to land me in bed for a solid three days and made me literally want to die until my body worked off the zinc poisoning. Luckily, I was able to recover and tell the tale. If you think that the steel you have might be galvanized, DO NOT FORGE OR WELD IT. You can remove the coating chemically using muriatic acid, but honestly you are better off just putting it to the side and forgetting about it. Your life isn"t worth it.

EDIT #3: I"ve added additional images that show the actual forging of a knife and the steps I took to shape it. Other images were replaced/updated to be more relevant to the scope of the tutorial and minor typos were corrected as well.

Keep on hammerin".

– torchforge

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Since I"ve started forging, I"ve talked to many different individuals about what I do and they wanted to know how I made my hand-forged knives, so here’s my personal advice on getting started yourself with an initial investment of around $100 presented in a tutorial fashion.

Bladesmithing falls into six steps:

1) Forging to shape (optional)

2) Heat-treating (optional, but required if forging)

3) Stock-removal of mill-produced / forged steel

4) Polishing of the blade (optional)

5) Affixing of handle material (also optional)

6) Sharpening of the edge(s)

Knifemaking on an industrial scale is done by what is called “stock removal” wherein a bar of certain quality steel that has already been annealed at the mill is machined to a knife-like shape using CNC equipment and then put through a heat-treatment process. No name-brand knives that you find in a store were actually forged by the maker. It is entirely possible to make knives yourself using stock removal techniques without having to invest in CNC equipment. A simple bench grinder or a sanding disk on a drill or angle grinder will suffice for your first few blades. This tutorial will explain how to remove stock on a blade using a circular bench grinder, commonly found at garage sales or hardware stores for cheap. The core components of a bench grinder are an electric motor and a circular grinding disk. It is not difficult to rig together your own grinder if you have an old electric motor lying around.

However, if you want to get serious you will need a belt grinder with both slack space and a vertical platen. 2×48 and 2×72 are the best grinders you can get for the task. Good quality 2×48 and 2×72 grinders are expensive, but they generally have a 20+ year life expectancy and the motor can always be replaced. The grinder frame will last forever. It is certainly possible to build your own 2×72 grinder for under $50, but that is outside the scope of this tutorial.

I forge my blades, which adds a long and complex additional step to the process of making a knife. However, you can create knives that would be impossible to make using stock-removal methods only. However, with forging comes the practice of heath-treatment which is a science of its own and it is possible to damage blades beyond repair with improper heat treatment. Forging will also reduce the amount of waste and amount of time spent grinding substantially if done properly. Considering steel and grinding belts are relatively inexpensive, you might end up paying more for the fuel to forge until you improve your skills. I have seen people forge blades in less than 10 minutes, but they were literal master-smiths. Forging also allows for unique handle structures and other characteristics that you could not achieve using only stock-removal techniques.

No matter how good you are as a bladesmith, you will ALWAYS take your blades to the grinder. Period.

Below are the steps I took to get started with forging. Forging can be used to create elaborate sculptures and works of jewelry as well, so the information given here is not exclusive to the forged blade.

Use charcoal (wood based coal) for forging before you move on to propane. If it turns out you suck or don’t enjoy turning black from the soot and scale involved in forging, at least you haven"t sunk in a bunch of money into something you"ll never do. You can easily make charcoal as per one of the million videos on youtube or use the method below. Don’t use charcoal briquettes, they are expensive and do not produce coke (pure coal). It is possible to purchase real “coal”, but it is difficult to source and is somewhat expensive.

I personally make charcoal in a 55 gallon steel drum with ~48 evenly spaced 1/2" holes drilled in the bottom. I raise the drum ~1" off the ground with scrap tiles/brick and fill it with non-pressure treated scrap wood, split softwood that has had the bark removed, or a combination of both and build a small fire on top. Before the fire starts to cook, I place metal spacers on top of the first burn barrel and put another barrel on top to act as a chimney.

Once the fire burns to the bottom of the barrel, I cover the bottom with dirt to cut off the oxygen supply, knock off the chimney, and stick a lid of some sort on top. I let the fire burn out of its own accord.

Below is a simpler and cheaper method of charcoal production, but it won"t yield as much charcoal.

PROTIP: Make sure that you leave adequate airspace between the pieces of wood so that they can burn quickly and uniformly.

PROTIP: Never take the cover off while the barrel is still warm and stand back when you kick the cover off. Built up creosote can react with atmospheric oxygen and spontaneously combust in your face if it’s still hot. BE FUCKING CAREFUL HERE.

If you want to get fancy or live in a city where there are burning restrictions, make a wood-gasification retort like this:

http://www.twinoaksforge.com/BLADSMITHING/MAKING%20CHARCOAL.htm

Wood gas does not produce sooty smoke. The method describe above will produce some smoke, however.

While it"s possible to use shit steel (grade 60 rebar for example) for forging a blade if you heat treat it right after the forging process, it"s far better to start off with good quality steel.

Good simple-carbon steels for knives are in the XX50 – XX95 range.

5160 is often considered the best all-around grade of steel if you want something with good flexibility and edge-holding properties. It’s an alloy steel that is easy to find at scrapyards since most modern truck leafsprings are made of 5160. This is well suited for both smaller knives and large blades, although it will not hold an edge as long as higher carbon steels.

Trainspikes are 1035 if they say HC on the head, which is too low in carbon to really make a knife that will hold its edge under heavy use.

Old scrap railroad rail is generally 1084, which is considered to be excellent simple-carbon steel for large knives.

Quality files and rasps made in the USA are usually 1095, which is also an excellent simple-carbon steel.

The higher the second two digits on any simple carbon steel, the more carbon that is present. Higher carbon steels are harder and can retain their edge for longer periods of time and are more abrasion resistant, but the steel is easier to break if bent or abused.

Personally, I prefer high carbon like 1095 because of its ability to still hold a razor-edge after heavy use.

You can also use unknown scrap steel but you have to test it first. You have to heat the piece up to “critical temp” (more on this later), quench it in WATER, and then strike the tip with a hammer. If it breaks off like a piece of glass, it is GOOD material. If it bends, it is BAD material. Certain specialty steels will not be able to utilize this test, but they are few and far between. You can test the hardness of a piece of steel with a file, but this will only work if you know the composition and hardness of the file that you are using.

PROTIP: Trainspikes lying around along the mainline of a railroad are good for practicing on, and they are usually low-carbon which makes them less liable to break. They are also the perfect size for making a full-metal trainspike knife.

The guide to junkyard steels above was compiled by the North Texas Blacksmith Association (NTBA).

Read more: http://imgur.com/gallery/Vr4UD

The "dirt cheap" (literally) guide to forging a knife

bench grinder, blades, knife